Split Personalities
by Baxxie
Summary: A family member has passed away. How do her parents deal with the grief? Randy is about to find out as not everyone is always who they seem to be. Sometimes they have split personalities... Read and Review please!
1. Prologue

Prologue

Here we all are, dressed in black and emotions uncontolled. Mom, dad and me and my brothers sit in the second row as we are close family to the deceased. Wow, deceased, that sounds strange...

Grandma is in the first row with uncle Marty and aunt Nancy as they are the ones who lost their little girl. Claire was only 6 years old when she got hit by a drunk driver as she crossed the street. He claimed not to have seen her and he denied being, but he got arrested anyway. Not that it makes a difference, it will never bring her back.

I can't imagine how hard this must be for uncle Marty and aunt Nancy, they seem to have completely broken down, but who wouldn't. And Gracie... poor Gracie. She saw the whole thing. She watched her twinsister die right in front of her. That's a lot to deal with for a six year-old. Mom said she hasn't said a word since the accident. And even now she just sits there, staring ahead, without any emotions. I really hope she'll be okay.

Mom agreed to take Gracie in for a while after the funeral, so uncle Marty and aunt Nancy can have some time alone together and get through this. Their marriage was already rocky, I can't imagine what it's like now. But for Gracie's sake I hope they do work things out, she needs both her parents right now.

After the service we head to the cars to join the procession towards the graveyard. It's quiet in the car. Nobody says a word. dad doesn't even comment on the cars in front of us, which is a first for him. He doesn't even comment on the grey Pacer behind us. I guess it's understandable, he's very close to uncle Marty and the wins especially. We watched them a lot. It's hard to see him like this. I hate the silence, but I don't say a word...

An hour later we all have a pink rose in our hand that we put on the small coffin to say our goodbyes as we walk past. We're the last ones to leave. As we turn to leave I notice Gracie is still standing by the coffin staring at it. Mom noticed I stopped walking and looks at me to see why. When she sees Gracie, she gets a sad look.

'Poor thing. I better go talk to her. ' She makes advances to walk over to Gracie, but I stop her. She turns and gives me a questioning look.

'I'll go. You go see how dad is doing, he seems to be taking this a lot harder than all of us. We'll meet you in the parking lot, okay?' She smiles sadly and nods.

'Thank you sweetheart. I'll go tell your dad to wait for you.' She hugs me and goes to find my dad and my brothers.

I take a deep breath and walk over to her. She doesn't even notice me when I come stand next to her. She just keeps staring at the coffin without any emotions. I wonder what she's thinking about. I don't want to scare her, so I crouch down to her level and softly call her name to get her attention.

'Gracie? Are you coming? Mom and dad are waiting for you. You'll have your own room this time, isn't it great?' She doesn't respond. I sigh deeply. Ofcourse not, who cares about her room, she just lost her sister.. Stupid! I've never been good in these situations. Not even with adults I know what to say, what am I suppose to say to a six year-old?

'Uhm, Gracie? Can you hear me? I'm sorry, I'm not good at this... Uhm, are you okay? Gracie?' I gently touch her arm. She jumps slightly and turns to look at me in fright. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay? Mom and waiting are waiting for you, you're coming with us for a while. Your mom and dad need some time alone, okay?' She nods slowly and looks at the ground. 'Okay, let's go then.'

I get up and start to move, when I feel something tugging gently at my jacket. I look down and see Gracie looking at me. I crouch back down to her level.

'Randy? Can I ask you something?

'Sure, you can ask me anything.'

'Do you think Claire is happy in heaven? She got hurt really bad... Will she be hurting there too?'

Wow, I wasn't expecting that... What would mom say?

'Uhm, you know what? I'm sure she's very happy up there. The angels took away all her pain.'

'You really think so?'

'Yeah, I'm sure of it. And you know what? I'm sure she's looking down at you right now and she really loves you.'

'When she got hurt, I asked God to take away her pain. And he did by taking her away. Does that mean it's my fault she's gone?'

Wow, maybe I should have let mom handle this...

'What? No, Gracie, this is not your fault. Sometimes God takes someone away that you love, because it's their time to go, okay?'

She nods. Then she puts her arms around me and hugs me close. 'Thank you, Randy.'

I hug her back and smile. 'You're welcome kiddo.'

I get up again and she puts her hand in my hand as we start walking towards the carpark.

'Randy?'

'Yeah, Gracie?'

'Am I really getting my own room?' I stop walking as she sneakily smiles at me.

'So you did hear me huh? Come here you.' I look at her and let her know I'm gonna tickle her. She giggles and runs away.

I laugh as I watch her have fun. Yeah... she'll be just fine. Everything will be fine, it'll all work out.

_Oh, how wrong I was..._


	2. Chapter 1 Laughter and Tears

Chapter 1 Laughter and Tears

Gracie has been here just one day and it's good to see she's doing okay. She had some quiet moments and trouble sleeping last night, but today she is laughing and having fun again.

I told mom what happened in the graveyard. She said she would have said the same thing, so I guess that was good.

I smile as I see Brad and Mark chasing her throught the living room, ready to tickle her as she screams with delight. As they catch her and start the tickling, I decide to help her out. I start to throw pillows at Brad and Mark. As they turn around the playfully ask Gracie what they should do with me?

'Tickle him!' I gasp and in mock beg her not to as Brad and Mark let her go and she runstowards me. I run towards the couch and pretend to trip and fall on the couch.

'No, don't tickle me, don't tickle me!' She giggles and climbs on the couch, where I shield myself and she puts her hands on me. I quickly grab her.

'Ah, got ya!' She giggles again. The the front door opens and mom walks in. 'Go get her Gracie!' I let her go as she runs to mom.

'Auntie Jill!' Mom picks her up and smiles at her.

'Did you have fun today?' Gracie smiles at her and animatedly starts telling her about everything we did today.

'Well, looks like you had quite a day, huh? Hi guys!' She looks at us and smiles again. Then she looks serious and motions us she wants to talk. She puts Gracie down and crouches down to her level.

'Why don't you go and play for a while, while I talk to your cousins, okay sweetie?' She nods and goes to sit by the table, where her dolls are.

Mom comes into the kitchen as we follow. She looks at Gracie and gets a sad look, then she turns to us.

'Guys, remember how your dad and I said Gracie would stay here for a few days? Well, she's staying a bit longer than that. Your dad talked to Marty and Nancy and they really want some time alone. They're having a really hard time with this.'

'What about Gracie? Like she's not having a hard time? She needs her parents right now!' I start to yell angrily.

'Keep your voice down, she doesn't need to hear this.' Mom looks back at Gracie, but she's still playing.

'Look, we talked to them. We don't like this either, but we need to be there for them right now. And the best way to do that is to look after Gracie for a couple of weeks.' My mom quietly says.

'A couple of weeks?!' My mom gives me a look and I quickly lower my voice. 'A couple of weeks? They can't do that. Gracie is their daughter, she needs them now more than ever.'

'I know alright. But that's not going to happen. Right now, we're all she has and she needs us okay? Right now she's doing really good, so let's not say anything okay? We'll wait for the right moment.'

'How about now?' Brad quietly asks as he motions behind mom. Mom turns around and there's Gracie. She looks at us with sad eyes, tears are already starting to form.

'Mommy and daddy don't want me to come home? They don't love me anymore?' My heart sinks.

'Honey no, they just need some more time, so you'll stay with us a bit longer. It's only for a couple of weeks, then you can go home and everything will be ok.' Mom tries as she crouches down to her level.

'No, it's not ok! Mommy and daddy don't love me anymore!' She starts to cry and she runs away and up the stairs.

We sadly watch her leave. Mom wants to go after her, but I stop her.

'I'll go, it's my fault she heard us. I'll talk to her.' She smiles at me as I start towards the stairs.

As I'm upstairs, I can immediately hear quiet sniffling coming from the bathroom. I knock on the door.

'Gracie? It's me Randy, can I come in?'

'I'm not here.'

'Oh, well, okay, I guess it's ust my imagination. If you find out where my cousin Gracie is, could you tell me? I'd really like to talk to her. Well, I guess I'll just leave then.' I tell her as sadly as possible and start to walk down the stairs.

'No wait, I'm in here.' As she opens the door and she looks at me. Her eyes are puffy and she's wiping the tears that are still forming with her hands as she sniffles.

'Aww, Gracie, come here.' I sit on the ground at the top of the stairs and open my arms out to her. She sits on my lap and I hold her while she cries.

'It's ok. I'm sorry Gracie. I know you want your mommy and daddy right now, but they are really hurting. They are very sad and they need to talk about some things.' She looked up at me sadly.

'I know... they don't want me anymore do they?' And she starts crying again and buries her head in my shoulder.

'Hey, look at me Gracie.' She sniffles and looks at me again. 'Listen to me okay? Your mommy and daddy love you very much. And they will come and see you as soon as they can. They just need to work out a few things. Listen, I know you're sad, but right now you'll stay with us for a few weeks and we can do anything you want. Then, when your parents come to pick you up, you can tell them all about it. Does that sound good?' She nods as she still sniffles.

'Okay, now let's go wipe those tears away and you'll be good as new before uncle Tim comes home. Now give me a hug.'

She hugs me really tight and I hug her back. Then as I start to get up, she kisses me on the cheek.

'Thank you Randy. You're my favorite cousin.' I smile at her.

'You are very welcome. And you know what? You're my favorite cousin, too.' She smiles.

Then I grin at her. 'Now go wipe those tears away, before I tickle you again. Go, hurry!' She giggles and quickly runs to the bathroom. I sit there for a minute, thinking about what just happened. Then I get up and start down the stairs, when I see my mom standing at the bottom, smiling and slighty tearing up.

'That was so sweet. You will make a great father some day.'

'Oh mom, let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we. Maybe I should find a girlfriend first. But if you're going to be so sentimental about it, maybe I shouldn't have kids.' She gasps as I smirk at her.

'Don't scare me like that. I want grandkids, Randy or I will make you pay.' We both laugh. 'Now come and help me make dinner. I want to get it done before your dad comes home.'

'Oh mom?!' I whine. 'I just got Gracie to calm down, now you want her to feel bad again by poisoning her?' She slaps me on my arm as I laugh again.

'Don't start with me, or I'll make you some of my meatloaf.' She playfully threatens. I gasp in mock.

'No, not the meatloaf!' She slaps me again as she laughs.

'Go set the table, you idiot. God, I swear, you are more like your father everyday.' I childishly stick out my tongue at her and she throws a towel at me while laughing again.

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**I hope you like this story! I'll be adding a few dark chapters later on, for now everything's ok, but for how long...**

**Just keep reading and reviewing to find out!**


	3. Chapter 2 Surprise Visits

Chapter 2 Surprise Visits

For the next week me and my brothers spent a lot of time with Gracie. We still have one week of summer vacation left after this one, so we have enough spare time. Mom and dad both had to go to work. They didn't want to, because of Gracie, but we convinced them we could take care of her.

I have to say, we are quite good at this. We've even cooked a few times and that's definetly something we didn't inherit from mom. We've taken her everywhere. Today we went to the zoo, we just got ice cream and we're heading home right now. Gracie is on my shoulders, giggling as Brad and Mark tease her and tickle her on the way.

As we get home we see a car in the driveway.

'Whose car is that?' Brad asks. Mark shrugs his shoulders.

'No idea.' I tell them as I lift Gracie from my shoulders. I notice she's looking at the car and getting excited.

'That daddy's car! Hurry, hurry, open the door!' She is jumping up and down excitedly.

'Okay, okay, hold on a second.' I open the door and she runs inside. We quietly follow her.

There on the couch are aunt Nancy and uncle Marty. Gracie rushes up to them. She goes to hug her mother, but she starts crying immediately. So uncle Marty pulls her away.

'Now look what you're doing? You got your mother all upset.' Then he lets go of Gracie as she starts crying. He puts his arms around his wife.

We stand there looking dumbfound as aunt Nancy and Gracie are both crying. Uncle Marty just holds his wife and ignores his daughter. We gasp as Gracie tries to get on the couch and uncle Marty grabs her by the arm.

'Stop crying! Look at what you did to your mother.' She only starts crying harder. We look at each other, we were kind of in shock about what was happeing right in front of us. 'Now, go stand in a corner and think about what you did. Go!' She runs upstairs crying. I quickly run after her as I hear dad coming in and he starts yelling at uncle Marty for what he did.

I find Gracie sitting in a corner in her room softly crying, with her head turned towards the wall.

'Oh Gracie... Are you okay?' She doesn't respond to me. So I go towards her and touch her arm, trying to get her to look at me. She shakes my arm off.

'Daddy told me to sit in the corner and think about what I did. So I am.. I need to be punished, I made mommy cry...' She cries more. My heart just breaks hearing those words.

'Aww, Gracie, come here.' I grab hold of her and take her in my arms. At first she protests, but then she hugs me back and cries on my shoulder again. 'I'm so sorry, honey... Your dad didn't mean it, you know that right? He's just hurting right now... he just misses your sister right now.'

'I made mommy cry...' She sniffles.

'Shh, it's okay... You didn't make make her cry, she's just sad. They're both sad right now, but they really love you... And you know what? So do I.'

She sniffles and looks up at me.

'Really?' I smile at her.

'You bet, kiddo.' Then she starts crying again.

'Daddy yelled at me...' I hold her again and try not to let her notice the anger I'm feeling right now. How could he do something like that? She's only six years old, she doesn't deserve this. I stroke her hair and gently rock back and forth as I let her cry.

'Shh, I know, It's okay... Everything will be ok.' I continue this for a little while longer until I notice the sniffles have stopped and her breathing is slower. I left her head and see she's fallen asleep. I try to stand up, without moving too much and without a sound to stop her from waking up. It takes a while, but I manage to stand as she still holds me tightly. I gently place her on her bed and take her hands from around my neck. Her hands are searching for something to hold, so I put her teddy bear in her arms. She immediately encloses her arms around it. The sight of it makes me smile as she curls up as a ball. I gently kiss her on the forehead and cover her with a blanket. Then I turn around and leave her room, closing the door behind me, making as little noise as possible. As I close her door and turn around, my heart beats in my chest as I see Brad and mark right there behind me.

'Don't do that!' I whisper as I put a hand on my chest.

'How is she?' They both stand there, concerned for Gracie. Lately she has really turned into the little sister we never had.

'She's sleeping. But she was really upset, you guys. It just broke my heart seeing her like that. I can't believe uncle Marty did that. What was he thinking?' The look they gave me, told me they were thinking the same thing.

Then dad came up the stairs. He looked exhausted. 'How is she?' he asked us.

'Asleep. But this really shook her up, dad. Why did he do that?'

'I know alright. I had a long talk to them. He knows what he did was wrong, but they have been through a lot lately... he just snapped.'

'That's not an excuse! This is their daughter. Do they have any idea how hard this has been for her? No, they don't, they haven't talked to her once. not once did they stop and think maybe she is hurting, too.' He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

'I know alright? Look, let's just forget about this right now, it happened and we can't turn it back. Let's just go get ready for dinner, your mom went to get some take-out.' I look at him, still angry. 'Randy? Can you please just act normal when we go downstairs? Don't say anything, alright? This is bad enough as it is.' I put my hands in the air.

'Fine, I won't say anything. But I won't forget about it.' He doesn't respond as he knows there's no use arguing about this. I start towards the bathroom to wash up.

'Wait, what about Gracie?' Brad asks us, as we stop walking.

'Maybe we should let her sleep. She's had a busy day today. And I've got a feeling she won't be that hungry anyway.' Dad tells us. We agree. As we all get ready, we prepare ourselves for more uncomfortables moments as we hear mom come in.

'Boys? Time for dinner!' Oh, boy, here we go...

A/N

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Hi! thanks for the reviews so far, always makes me want to write more, so don't stop :)

Oh, if you have any ideas for this story, please let me know. I'm kind of getting stuck a little with my next chapters, so if you think of anyhting, let me know :) Thanks again, please continue to read and review!


	4. Chapter 3 The Nightmare and Sleepover

Chapter 3 The Nightmare and the Sleepover

Last night's dinner was horrible. Hardly anyone spoke and all I could think about was Gracie, still peacefully sleeping up there, but having to go through all of this. I made a promise to myself that night. If her parents weren't going to be there for her, I was going to make sure I would be.

Uncle Marty and Aunt Nancy were thinking of staying with us at first and talk to Gracie when she woke up, but mom convinced them it wasn't a good idea. So after dinner they stayed a little while and talked some more with mom and dad and then they went back home.

Uncle Marty seemed to regret what he did, but I'm still mad at him. He had no right to treat her like that! But I should stop thinking about it, I'll never get to sleep. I'm still awake, even though it's getting kind of late. But as I hear tossing of sheets on the other side of the room, I know I'm to the only one having trouble sleeping. Then loud snoring starts... Or maybe I am. I sigh annoyed and put my pillow over my head and after a few minutes I finally fall asleep.

Meanwhile, as Randy is sleeping...

The door to the basement softly creaks as it's opened. Then footsteps can be heard coming down the stairs. When the footsteps have gone halfway down, they stop and a soft thud is heard. Then a cry and the footsteps run down the last of the steps this time. Then another thud follows.

Mark opens his eyes as a thud wakes him up. He tries to look around in the dark, but he can't see anything. He almost goes back to sleep when he sees something move across the room. He quickly gets out of bed and quietly moves towards his older brother Brad, who's snoring loudly, but he's closest. He shakes his shoulders.

'Brad? Brad, wake up. There's something in our room.' Brad swats his hand away and mumbles. Mark sighs and tries shaking him harder. 'Brad? Damnit Brad, would you wake up! Fine, I'll have to do this the hard way.' He shrugs and puts his hand on Brad's nose, holding it shut. He waits a few minutes and quickly lets go until Brad opens his eyes and looks around panicked.

'Mark? Oh, I just had a horrible dream, I dreamt that someone was holding my nose shut. I was suffocating.' Mark rolls his eyes at him.

'Would you be quiet? Randy is still sleeping.' He whispers as they both look over to see their brother lying with his face under a pillow, and one arm draped over the edge of the bed. They smile at the site as the pillow moves.

'Sorry. So why did you wake me up? Why didn't you wake Randy up?' Brad now whispers as well.

'I heard a noise and then I saw something move near the stairs. And you were closer to my bed.' Brad now rolls his eyes at his younger brother.

'You woke me up because you heard a noise? You're such a dork, Mark.' Then both of them look towards the door as they hear it move. Someone seems to be opening it.

'I'm a dork? You're clamping on to my arm.' Brad looks at his hand, as it's holding a death grip on Mark's arm and smiles sheepishly.

Just then they hear soft crying coming from the door. They look at each other confused and get up. They walk towards the door and quietly open it. There on the other side of the door sits Gracie on the floor holding a teddy bear close to her body and tears rolling down her face.

They're immediately concerned and crouch down to her level.

'Gracie?' Brad softly whispers. 'What are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be in bed?' Gracie looks up at Brad with the tears still flowing freely.

'I had a nightmare.' She sobs. 'I'm scared... Where's Randy?'

'Randy's sleeping. Why don't I take you back to bed, okay?' Brad goes to pick her up, but she refuses.

'No, I'm scared. I don't want to go back upstairs. I want to stay here.' She whines.

'Shh... Randy's sleeping, remember? Let's not wake him up.' She nods and Brad stands up and turns to Mark.

'What should we do? Should we wake up Randy?' Mark asks his older brother. 'I mean, she is closest to her.'

'No, we don't need to wake him up. We're up now, we can handle this.' They both thought for a while. they looked back at the little girl, still holding her teddy bear and tears on her face. Brad sighs.

'Why don't we just let her stay here for the night? It's just one night.' Mark shrugs his shoulders.

'Okay, but she should stay with you, your bed is bigger than mine.'

'No, it's not, my bed is not bigger than yours, it's...' He didn't finish his sentence, as they both hear Gracie yawn. They turn to her and smile.

'Alright, come on, you can stay with me for tonight. But just for tonight, you hear?' She nods and smiles happily as she takes Brad hand.

Mark gets into his bed as Brad does also. Gracie then climbs into Brad's bed. As he lays down, so does she and she snuggles up to him. Brad smiles and puts an arm around her tiny shoulders.

'Goodnight Gracie.' But she's already fast asleep. 'Goodnight Mark.'

'Goodnight Brad.' Then they all enjoy a peaceful sleep.


	5. Chapter 4 The Phonecall

Chapter 4 The Phonecall

As I wake up and stretch, I look over at Brad and am surprised to see Gracie sitting up straight in his bed.

'What are you doing here?' I ask her. She ets a smile on her face as she sees me. I know she wants to squeal out, so I put a finger to my lips to make sure she doesn't make a sound. She lets me know she understands as she repeats my movement.

I slowly get out of bed and see Mark waking up, too. I let him know to be quiet, too, as I walk over to Brad on my toes. I have to stifle a laugh as I see Brad still snoring and drool leaking out of his mouth onto his pillow. I notice Mark coming to stand beside me. He looks at me, curious to find out what's so funny.

'What is it?' But he chuckles quietly as he sees Brad. Then I look at him with an evil glint in my eyes.

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' He looks confused first. Then he looks at Brad and back at me and grins. I grab Gracie and put her on my bed.

'Wait here, okay? Don't make a sound.' She nods as she looks curiousat what we're doing.

'Mark, pulls off his blankets, I'll get a bucket.' He grins and goes to work. I go to the bathroom and fill a bucket with water. Then I walk as quiet as possible towards Brad. I put my finger to my lips again towards Gracie as I hear her gasp and giggle.

I slowly lift the bucket over Brad as Mark and I countdown.

'One, two, three!" I dip the bucket over him as Brad sputters and jumps out of bed. Mark and I laugh and Gracie giggles.

'What happened?' Then Brad sees me with the bucket in my hands. I still laugh, seeing him dripping water on the floor. But he's not happy. 'You beter start running, Randy!' I laugh again and race up the stairs, Brad following close behind me. Mark and Gracie also come up.

Mom and dad are already up and they look surprised as they watch Brad chasing across the living room. 'Brad? Why are you so wet?' Dad asks us, already stifling a laugh. Mom can't help but chuckle also.

I laugh again. 'I guess he must have taken a shower in his sleep.' Brad looks at me with wide eyes. I start running again.

'Why you little...Come back here!' He chases me again. I run towards the couch where he catches me and we wrestle on the couch while laughing. Mark joines in and soon the three of us are wrestling on the floor. Mom and dad laugh while shaking their heads.

'Guys, come on. Let's have breakfast. Brad, get off the couch, you're getting it all wet. Go put some dry clothes on.' We stop and help eachother up. We realise we're all wet now, so we head downstairs in turns, to take a shower and get dressed. When we're all done, dad is talking animatedly on the phone to someone. I look at mom questioningly. She mouths the name Marty. I feel anger rising again.

'Slow down, Marty. What do you mean you broke up? What happened?' We all look at dad with wide eyes. Mom looks at Gracie.

'Sweetie? How about we go upstairs and get you dressed, huh?' She picks Gracie up and they go upstairs.

'Marty, come on... You can't get a divorce now? What about Gracie?' He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. 'Ofcourse I'll help you. Ofcoure you can stay here.' I look at him wide-eyed. Let him stay here? After what happened last week? I shake my head. Dad motions me to stop.

'Yeah, ok. Ok, We'll see you tonight. I'll make sure Brad's old room is ready for you. We used it as an office for Jill, but she's not working home anymore, so we don't need it anymore. Yeah, ok. Take care, bye.' He hangs up and looks at me.

'Don't start Randy. marty and Nancy might be getting a divorce, she threw him out of the house. He's my brother, so I... Why am I explaining this to you, anyway? It's my house, you don' have a say in who stays here and who doesn't.' He turns his back to me and goes to grab his coat.

'But dad, do you remember what happened last time he was here?' he rolls his eyes at me.

'Oh, don't start this again. I told you, he was upset and he was sorry. He already apologised, end of story.'

'But dad...'

'No buts. End of this discussion. Your uncle Marty will be coming over tonight and I don't want any trouble from you. He's going through a difficult time right now and he needs our support. Now, I'm going to work and I don't want to hear anymore of this. You got it?'

'Yeah, fine. I got it.'

'Good. I'll be back at six pm. See you guys later!'

'Bye dad.' Mark and Brad chanted. I'm feeling frustrated right now.

'Randy? Are you really still upset about what happened last week? He did apologise, you saw for yourself he was sorry. You really think he would intentionally want to hurt Gracie?' Brad asked me as he and Mark puts the dishes in the sink.

'I don't know. All I know is, she was really upset and I don't want that to happen again.'

'It won't, she'll be fine. Besides, we're here, aren't we? We'll look after her. You'll see, there's nothing to worry about.' Mark assures me.

'Yeah, I guess so.' But I couldn't get rid of this sinking feeling in my stomach... Something's not right, I just know it...


	6. Chapter 5 Daddy?

Chapter 5 Daddy?

Last night uncle Marty finally arrived. I still wasn't happy about it, but there was nothing I could do.Dad made that very clear last time. 

But I promised myself because of Gracie, to keep my feelings to myself. I didn't want to upset her, so I had to pretend I was fine. Even though it was going to be difficult... 

I did keep an eye on him during dinner. I'm not sure if he noticed, but I know dad did. He kept looking at me, trying to get me to stop, but I just ignored him. Sure, I promised I wouldn't say anything, but I wasn't going to let him out of my sight.Okay, maybe he wasn't going to try anything during dinner, but hey, younever know. 

Gracie still didn't feel comfortable sleeping by herself, so I read her a bedtime story and stayed with her all through the night. I don't think uncle Marty was happy about it, but mom agreed that is was best not to change too many things in her life right now. It would just upset her. I didn't mind. 

In the next couple of days I still watched uncle Marty like a hawk. But I started to notice that he really was trying his best for Gracie. He spent nearly all his time with her while he was here. I was starting to realize I might have been to hard on him. He really does care about her, I can tell. I guess he knows he made a mistake that night and he's trying to make it up to her. 

He asked all of us if he could spend some time alone with Gracie tonight. I don't know how I feel about it. But I don't want to upset anyone, so I thought I should talk to someone about my feelings.Lasttime I tried to talk to dad, it didn't go well, so he's out. And Brad and Mark, well, I need to talk to someone a little more mature... So I guess that would be mom.I waited till she went outside and I followed her out. I made sure noone else was around. 

'Mom? Could I talk to you for a second?' She turned to me and smiled. 

'Sure, honey. What do you want to talk about?' She went to sit on the swing and motioned for me to come sit next to her. I did and I prepared myself. 

'It's about tonight. You know uncle Marty asked us if he could be alone with Gracie tonight?' She looked at me with a confused look. 

'Yeah?' 

'Well... I'm just not sure if I can do that...' I was scared of her reaction, so I kept my head down, not wanting to look at her. I heard her sigh. 

'Honey, look at me.' I slowly looked at her. She looked concerned about me. She put her arm around my shoulder. 

'I know how you feel, okay? I may not have been there that night, but I saw how upset Gracie was. I know you want to protect her, but Marty is her father. And this hasn't been easy for him, either. He knows what he did was wrong and he is trying really hard to be there for her.' I looked at my feet. She hugged me closer. 'Look, I know you care about her and you want her to be happy. But just look at her in there. I think she is going to be just fine. It's just one night. But if it'll make you feel better, why don't you go home early. You'll see everything is fine and we can stop having these discussions. And you can finally stop staring at him like he's a criminal.' She smirked as I let a small smile appear. I still didn't look at her. 

'So you noticed, huh?' 

'It was kind of hard not to, honey.' I smiled again. 'Now, how about it? Your dad and I are going to go visit Al and Trudy, Mark is going to sleep over at a friends house and Brad's going to a party tonight. Why don't you ask him if you can come along, I'm sure he wouldn't mind.' I looked at her like she was crazy. 

'But I would mind. I'm not hanging out with jocks. They're so full of themselves and they have like, no brains.' She laughed and got up. She took my hands and pulled me to my feet. 

'Oh, come on. It'll be fun. You don't have to hang out with him. You could sit in the corner and make fun of all the jocks.' Hmm, I liked that idea. 

'I bet there will be lots of girls there, too.' She winked at me. I thought about it and then rushed inside. 

'Hey Brad! My favorite brother, you're going to a party tonight, right?' I put my arm around his shoulder as he rolls his eyes. I can hear mom laughing as she sees us. 

_Later that evening..._

I'm glad mom convinced me to go to the party. I'm feeling relaxed for the first time in a while now. Because forone night I decided to just let go and have fun. 

And I am having fun. I found out that I really do hate jocks andmom was right about the girls. There are a lot of them, and they are gorgeous. Too bad they like the jocks... Well, I did meet one girl and we had a great time making fun of the stupidety of the guys in the room and the fakeness of the girls. Until the person with the least brains asked her to dance and I really wanted to hit him for it, but I'm not a violent person and besides, he's my brother. What would mom say? 

Now I'm just sitting here on the couch by myself. I'm watching everyone having fun and my thoughts are starting to wonder. I try not to as I get up and go to the bathroom. 

As I walk upstairs, I try to ignore the family pictures on the walls beside me. There's a little girl on it, who reminds me of someone... I shake my head and try to think of something else. But as I walk the last step I see one bedroom door is ajar. I try not to look, but it's hard to ignore the stuffed teddybear that seems to stare at me from the corner of my eye. 

Finallyit hits me. I can't do this, I need to go home...I don't know why, but I have that same sinking feeling in my stomach, that I had the night before uncle Marty was supposed to come. I rush downstairs andgo to look for Brad. I find him outside, kissing the same girl that I had fun with earlier. 

'Brad? Brad! Give me the carkeys, Brad. I'm going home.' He hardly looks at me. I roll my eyes at him and yell harder. 

'Brad!' he slowly looks at me, giving me an evil look. 

'What do you want, shorty?' I roll my eyes again and I hold out my hand. 

'Give me the carkeys, I'm going home.' He looks confused, but grabs the keys anyways, as he knows that the more he argues, the longer he won't be able to spend time with the 'new girl'. As he puts them in my hand, I immediately rush off towards the car. 

'Hey, wait a minute! How will I get home?' I look back at him, but don't stop walking. 

'I'm sure there are plenty of girls here willing to give you a ride. How about the girl you were kissing earlier, she was nice.' I smile evily as I hear the current girl gasping and then water splashing as she throws her drink in his face. Serves him right. 

Now, to get home as quick as I can... I really hope I'm wrong about this. 

But as I park the car in the garage, my heart sinks as her cries seem to echo through the house.I knew it! I should have never left her alone... Holdon Gracie, I'm coming! Then, as I get nearer to his room, I hear him in a voice I've never heard before... 

'Stop crying you little twerp! This is all your fault... You're the reasonmommy left, you know that don't you?You want to know why?' Smack! 'Look at me when I'm talking to you! I'll teach you a lesson!' My heart is racing as I finally make it to his room. I throw the door open just as I see him raise his hand. As it hits the wall, I guess I surprised him, as he lets go of Gracie and she runs at me and hides behind my legs. He doesn't turn around. 

'What the hell do you think you're doing? You hit your own daughter! Why would you do that? And how could you say these things to her? She is only six years old!' I screamed at him. He still didn't turn around. 

'You know what? I'm going to call mom and dad. They should what kind of a person you really are. Let's go Gracie.' I turn around and want to walk out the door, when strong arms grab me from behind. I struggle to get free, but he throws me on the floor and kicks my stomach. I gasp and grab my stomach. He then grabs my collar and drags me to a standing position. My heart beats in my chest as I finally see a side of uncle Marty I wished I didn't see... 

He leans into my face and pushes me against a wall. My eyes are wide as I stare at him, scared out of my mind. But I need to be strong, as Gracie is still in the room. 

'You are not calling anyone, you hear me? Look, you have no idea what this has been like for me. You don't know what it's like to lose a child, Randy!' 

'So you just take it out on your other daughter?' Okay, maybe that wasn't a good idea. He slams my head against the wall, making me flinch as my breathing starts to go faster. 

'I need to take it out on someone, don't I?' To my disgust he actually smiles as he says that. 'Besides, this is all her fault anyway.' 

'What? It was an accident! Gracie had nothing to do with this. She is only six years old. She doesn't deserve this!' I quickly shut up as he leans close towards my face. 

'Oh, really? She was there. That car was coming to hit her sister and she just stood by and did nothing. She did nothing! She just stood there and let her sister die!' Heyells and lets go of me.He goes towards Gracie again. I need to do something quick. 

'Wait! Take me!' He stops dead in his tracks. 

'What did you say?' I gulp, I know this might not be the best decision I've ever made, but I don't know what else to do... 

'I said: take me. If you really need to take your frustations out on someone, take them out on me. You can hit me all you want, whenever you want, just don't hurt her, please... She is just a child...' I plead with him. He seems to think about it. Then he smiles menacingly and looks at me. I back up and stop walking as I hit the wall behind me. 

'Boy, you must really care for her, huh?' He looks at Gracie again before smiling an even bigger smile and looking back at me. 'Well, alright then. You have a deal, kid. But if you let anyone find out about this, I'm going straight back to her, you hear?' My eyes go wide as I silently nod, finally realizing what I just agreed on... But as I take one more look at Gracie's tearstained face and her small frame cowering in the corner, crying her little eyes out, I know it was the right decision. I just need to pull through this, for Gracie's sake. 

I close my eyes and wait for the first punch as I see him raise his fist. But nothing comes. As I open my eyes I see he seems to be listening to something. Then I hear the front door slam and my dad's voice calling up the stairs. 

'Honey, I'm home.' I sigh of relief. But my heart is still racing as uncle Marty leans into my face again. 

'We'll continue this tomorrow. Now grab Gracie and make sure not to forget our deal, alright?' I nod quickly. I go over to Gracie and pick her up gently. 

I try to comfort her as tonight's events finally hit me. But those thoughts go away as quickly as they came, as Gracie's sobs get through to me. I take her to the bathroom and try to see where he hurt her. My ears perk up as I hear something that makes me feel disgusted... Sweet uncle Marty is back. I can hear him talking and laughing downstairs, acting like nothing ever happened... I just can't believe a person can have such a split personality... 

Well, I better try and think of something else,tomorrowis going to be a looong day... 

I sigh heavily and help Gracie calm down. At least I know she'll be safe from now on... I hug her tightly, as I let silent tears roll down my face...

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A/N Hi guys! Thanks for the reviews so far! I'm sorry about this long chapter, but I couldn't split it up :P I told you it would become darker... I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll try and update my other stories and thisone as soon as possible! Thanks again and keep reading and reviewing!


	7. Chapter 6 Getting To Know You

Chapter 6 Getting to know him...

_3 am..._

I've been avoiding uncle Marty for three days now. Thankfully I haven't been alone with him, so he hasn't had the chance to unleash any of his anger. But I've noticed it's starting to get to him.

Last night he was chopping up some vegetables and I swear, if he chopped any harder he would have gone right through the counter top. All the while he looked at me with a menacing look, letting me know he was imagening me on that counter. That thought gave me chills. Noone else noticed what he did. He managed to act normal every time they looked at him. Mom did notice I had gone white as a sheet, but that's what you get when your uncle make a throat cutting signal towrds you when nobody else is looking. Needless to say, I lost my appetite after that...

It's not really helping that the weather is this bad right now. The wind is howling through the pipes in the basement, while the thunder and lightening crashes outside, making me toss and turn.

I just can't sleep. Everytime I close my eyes I think I see him standing in our room, with some kind of tool he borrowed from dad. And trust me, I'm not talking about the small tools. Then I wake up sweating as I look around the room, finding he's not there, but my sleep is already lost. I haven't slept a wink in the last three days.. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to do this.

But after waking up again in sweat after I fell asleep for 5 seconds and uncle Marty ran me over with dad's hot rod... I've decided to stay awake tonight.

I thought about going upstairs to get some warm milk, but I can just imagine him sitting up there on the couch waiting for me to do just this.. So, I'll just stay here, where I'm safe. As long as I'm not alone with him, nothing can happen. I just have to wait this out till I go back to school.

_6 am..._

I'm trying really hard to stay awake, but my eyes are really drooping right now. After keeping my eyes open for hours, I finally fall into a deep sleep without any nightmares for the first time...

_1 pm..._

I finally open my eyes and stretch my arms as I yawn. As I look around, I notice the other beds in the room are empty. I panic and look at my alarm clock. 1 PM? How did that happen? I really did sleep long... Why didn't anyone wake me? Damnit! I never sleep this late... I was supposed to take Gracie to the zoo today!

I quickly get up and get dressed. Then I rush upstairs.

As I walk into the kitchen I see everyone is putting on their coats. My dad smirks at me as he notices me coming in.

'Well, look who's finally up?' I give him a look to make him shut up. Then I walk over to Brad.

'Why didn't you wake me? You know I was supposed to take Gracie to the zoo today.' He walks past me.

'Actualy we did try to wake you, but you wouldn't budge. You just kept swatting our hands away. And I know you haven't been sleeping a lot, so I figured, why not let you sleep. You looked like you needed it.'

'Well, okay, maybe I did. But what about the zoo?' My mom rushes past me, looking for her purse.

'Oh, don't worry. Your uncle Marty came up with a great idea. He offered to pay for us to go to a theme park nearby with Gracie.'

That's the moment I started to worry... Everyone put their coats on, but where's uncle Marty?

'Oh, well, okay, let's go.' I walked towards the coat rack, when mom stops me.

'Honey, why don't you stay here. You look really tired and you've been taking suc good care of Gracie lately, why don't you just rest today. You deserve it.' She smiles at me and I nervously smile back.

'Well, uhm, isn't uncle Marty going to go with you?' I really hope she didn't hear my voice wavering...

'No, he's going to stay here. We haven't spent that much tie with Gracie yet and maybe you two can get to know eachother better, huh?' I laugh nervously.. Oh, I think I know him already..

Dad opens the door and they start to walk through it, I follow them, but mom stops me again.

'Randy, just stay here okay? We won't be that long. You jst get some rest and we'll see you tonight, okay?' She kisses me on the forehead and starts to walk outside.

'Bye sweetie!' She waved and quickly walks to the car, that dad has already started. I wave back and take a deep breath before I close the door. I look at the door for a mnute and suddenly realize how bad this situation is. I have to get out of here fast, before uncle Marty has a chance to do anything. I turn around and want to grab my coat as I suddenly see him standing in the kitchen with an evil smile on his face. I gulp as I grab my coat and walk backwards to open the door.

'Going somewhere Randy?' He says as he starts to walk towards me. I keep walking backwards until my back hits the door.

'Uhm, just going outside for a bit. It's a beautiful day, so I thought I would go and take a walk.' I grab the door handle with my hand as my back is still turned towards it. I open the door and want to turn around and rush out, when his hand closes the door and he bends over me. I try to stay calm as he leans towards my face.

'I think you better stay here. Wouldn't want you to get a cold, do you? Now, as your mother said: let's get to know eachother better.' He smiles an even bigger smile as my eyes widen at the sight of the rope he's holding. Oh, shit!

**A/N** Hi everyone! Sorry for updating so late, I had slight writer's block. I hope you like this chapter, I will put yup the next one later today, as I am in the middle of writing it. Sorry it's short, but putting these two chapters would make it way too long.

Tell me what you think and let me know if you have anymore ideas. Thanks for the reviews so far and keep reading and reviewing!


	8. Chapter 7 Unfair Fight

Chapter 7 Unfair Fight

I quickly duck and get out from under him. I drop the coat and start to run. I don't get very far as he throws his weight on top of me. Together we fall on the floor. I try to get away, but he sits on my legs and holds my arms. I try not to cry out as he pulls my arms backwards and starts to tie the rope around my wrists tightly. Then he leans in towards my face again.

'Now, let the fun begin!' He laughs evily and starts to pull me up. He then drags me upstairs and as we reach his room, he throws me inside and keeps the door open.

'Why bother closing the door when noone is here to help you, right?' He smiles again as my heart starts racing.

Then my breath gets caught in my throat as I see him take off his belt. He comes towards me and I try to crawl backwards, away from him. Unfortunately it's no use. As he gets close he grabs me and pushes me on the bed on my back. Then he rips open my shirt. He lifts the belt in the air and lets it hit my chest in full force. I try hard not to cry out at the pain, but I can't.

He laughs. 'Aww, did that hurt?' I wince at my chest and look at him angrily.

'You basterd!' he laughs again.

'Hey, you asked for it, remember? Or would you rather have me doing this to Gracie instead?'

I breath heavily and sadly shake my head no.

'Well then, shall we continue?'

I try to keep quiet this time and for the next few hours he continues beating my chest with all his strength. When he is finally done, he sits there panting and sweating and smiles disgustingly as he examines his work.

My eyes are still shut, because of the pain. The pain is everywhere. I lie still as every movement makes more pain shoot through my body. I can just smell the blood all over me and try not to notice it as I really don't want to get sick.

All of a sudden I fell more pain, as he pushes me on my side. He unties my hands and lets the rope fall next to me. He pulls my arms out in front of me and I pretend I'm not conscious. Maybe if I do, he'll just leave me alone.

I can feel him getting up off the bed. I slowly try to open my eyes, but I quickly shut them again as the rooms starts spinning fast. I try not to move as I hear him coming back in. I keep pretending to be awake, but it's hard not to wince and cry out as I feel the washcloth touching the open wounds on my chest. Ofcourse I couldn't expect him to be gentle with me...

'Come on Randy, get up. Don't try to fool me in thinking you're not awake, I know you are. Get up and take off your clothes. I have to put them in the washing machine. Everyone will be back home in a few hours and they are not to know about this remember?' I don't respond. He sighs.

'Oh come on, kid! This was your idea, you have to face the consequences.' I still don't respond. I feel him geting up again.

'Okay, fine. If you don't want to cooperate, maybe I should go back to Gracie.'

I open my eyes and I glare at him. He smiles as he knew that would get me off my feet. I wince as I start to get up. I have to hold on to the bedpost as I slowly stand, as coloured spots are dancing in front of my eyes.

He can't stand the waiting and he grabs my arm. I wince again as my arms are very sore from being tied on my back just a few minutes ago. He drags me to the bathroom and pushes me inside.

'Now take off your clothes and give them to me. I'll grab different clothes from your bedroom. Now get in the shower and clean yourself up. When I come back, I'll bandage your chest. Now hurry up!' Wth that he slams the door.

I slowly take off my clothes, wincing with every movement. I try not to pay attention to the blood dropping onto the white tiles. Then I turn on the water in the shower and take a deep breath, before getting under the streaming water. Nothing could have prepared me for the agony that follows. But I have to stay strong. I put my hands on the wall, ignoring the pain in my arms and wrists to keep myself from falling.

When I notice the water underneath me isn't crimson anymore, I turn the water off and slowly step out of the shower. I grab a towel and gently dry myself off, keeping my eyes shut. I can feel every inch of my body shaking and I have to sit down on the toilet as I feel myself getting dizzy again. I put my head between my knees and wait for it to pass. My mind wanders and I start to tune out, until forceful knocking on the bathroom door wakes me up.

'Are you done? Open the door!' I sigh heavily and lift myself up off the toilet. I don't want him to see how bad the pain is, so I open the dor and just glare at him, standing up straight. I hand him my clothes and forcefully grab my own. He just stands there smiling.

'Do you mind?' I glare at him as he smirks and puts up his hands. He walks out the door and I lock it behind him. I can hear him laughing behind the door as I slowly put my clothes on. I leave my shirt off, since my chest needs to be bandaged first.

When I'm done, I open the door and glare at him again. He is still laughing as he walks in with the bandages. He turns me until I'm facing the mirror. He gives me an evil smile as I glare and try not to look at my battered chest.

'Hold still.' I wince and try not to cry out again as he roughly bandages my chest tightly. When he's done he puts his hands on my shoulders and puts his head next to mine as he grabs my face and turns it towards the mirror.

'You know, you were right. This did make me feel a lot better. I have to hand it to you, you are one tough kid. But don't worry, we'll take care of that soon enough.' He laughs again and I turn my head away. He walks out and I can still hear him laughing as he walks down the stairs.

I slowly turn my head towards the mirror, but look away as quickly as I can. I slowly put my shirt on and I sadly keep my head down as I walk down the stairs also and go towards my bedroom.

As soon as I close the door behind me I can hear the rest of my family walk through the front door. They sound happy. I can hear Gracie giggling and squealing about all the fun things she saw. A lone tear rolls down my cheek. I smile softly.

'At least I know you're okay, Gracie, that's all that matters.' I silently whisper as I wipe the tear away. I start to go downstairs quietly when I hear the door opening. It's my mom. As she starts opening the door, she closes it again. I can hear uncle Marty talking to her.

'I just wanted to go see how Randy is doing.' I can hear her say with a concerned voice.

'He's doing okay. He went to bed early, cause he was tired and not feeling too well. Maybe you should just let him sleep.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right.' I can hear them moving away from the door.

'So, how was your night together?' She asks him. I can't wait to hear this. 'Did you get to know eachother a little better?'

'Oh yeah, we got to know eachother a lot better, definitely...' Chills run down my spine as he says that.

I walk downstairs as quietly and slowly as I can. As I finally reach my bed, everything hurts so much, I don't even bother taking my clothes off. I just climb in bed, slowly try to find a comfortable position and pull the covers over my head. Then I finally let the tears fall freely and I cry myself to sleep...

A/N Well here's part 2, I hope you enjoy it! Read and review and I'll try and update my other stories as soon as possible.

Sorry I cut the abuse part short, but there will be more chapter like this and It's hard to make a long chapter of it... If you have any ideas how I might be able to do this the right way, please let me know!


	9. Chapter 8 Changes

Chapter 8 Changes

The next couple of days uncle Marty thankfully left me alone. Because of that I have some more time to let the wounds heal and the pain to go away for the most part.

I'm making sure not to let anyone notice my pain as I come into a room and I keep distance from everyone. Gracie noticed that and she usually stays by my side. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, if they have, they haven't said anything.

At night she still has trouble sleeping. But, seeing as now so am I, she comes into my room at night and I let her sleep in my bed. She seems to feel more comfortable and safe then. And frankly, so do I. I will do anything to keep her away from that man. I may be in pain, but the thought of him hurting her, makes me forget about my problems.

Today is just a quiet day. I'm sitting at the table with Gracie. I'm reading a book while she's colouring. Uncle Marty isn't here. Dad convinced to go look for a job.

Brad is on a date and Mark is at a friend's house, while mom and dad are still at work.

'Look Randy! It's for you.' Gracie gives me a big smile as she happily shows me the picture she coloured in.

'Wow, that is amazing! I wish I was as good at colouring as you. I just can't manage to colour between the lines.' She giggles and looks proud of herself.

'Maybe I can teach you!' She looks so excited, it's hard to say no.

'Alright, sure.' I go sit next to her as she takes a colouring page of a pony (well, it's for Gracie after all) and begins to show me how to stay between the lines. I try to pretend I'm really bad at it. After a while I even pretend to get frustrated and sigh.

'I can't do this. I guess this is just too hard for me. I'll never be as good as you.' She looks at my colouring and giggles. 'hey, are you laughing at me? Are you laughing at the way I colour?' She giggles again and louder as I start to tickle her. 'Well, are, are you?' She squeals with joy as she squirms and manages to get away. She runs away quickly and tries to hide. I can still hear her giggling behind the couch, but I decide to play along.

'Hm, where could she be? Maybe she is in the fridge.' I start to open all kinds of doors to cupboards and drawers, resulting in louder giggling from Gracie. In all the fun we're having, I don't notice the front door opening. As I walk away from the kitchen with my back turned towards the front door. I start to call Gracie and pretend to still lok for her, as I notice she is very quiet all of a sudden. I look towards her sitting behind the couch and see her looking behind me with scared eyes. I want to turn around, but strong hands grab me from behind.

I want to scream, but a hand is clamped over my mouth, stopping me from making any noise.

'Having fun are we?' Uncle Marty shispers into my ear as I struggle to free myself. Gracie has started to cry loudly.

'Shut up you stupid brat, don't make me come over there!' She starts crying louder. I plead her in my head to stop, he's getting really pissed right now. Oh, why can't someone come in right now? 'I'm going to let go of you now, don't move or you'll regret it.' I nod and he let's go of me.

I stay where I am, until I see him walking over to Gracie with a lot of anger. My eyes widen as he grabs her and starts to shake her.

'Shut up! I told you to keep quiet, didn't I?' She only cries louder. I quickly run towards them and grab uncle Marty's arm to try and pull Gracie free.

'Let go of her. I said let go!' I forcefully pull his arm away from her. He let's her go and drops her on the couch. Then he turns around and before I have time to react he punches me in the stomach, making me double over in pain.

'Didn't I tell you not to move?' He punches me again. I drop to my knees and gasp as he kicks me in my stomach this time, knocking the wind out of me. Gracie screams my name and runs over to uncle Marty and kicks him in the shins. he angirly turns towards her and grabs her forcefully by the arms.

I'm on te floor holding my stomach, but I have to protect her. I grab hold of his ankle and pull as hard as I can, making him fall to the floor on his back with a loud thud.

'Why, you little shit.' I look at Gracie.

'Run Gracie, now! Hide somewhere and stay there, ok? I'll be ok.' She runs upstairs as quick as she can.

Uncle Marty has gotten up and is coming towards me again.

'You shouldn't have done that, kid. I'll make you pay.' He lifts up his leg and stomps as hard as he can on my knee, making me scream out in pain. Then he starts to kick me everywhere he can reach, avoiding any visible places, like my face.

After about half an hour he stops, heavily breathing. He smiles as he sees I'm not getting up. My eyes are closed in pain and I'm gasping for air.

'I hope you learned from your mistake. Remember the deal: noone finds out. Now I'm going to take a shower. You better clean yourself up. Beacuse if you're still here when your parents get home, well, I think you already know.' he laughs as he steps on my stomach and I gasp again and take hold of my stomach, rolling onto my side.

I lay there for what seems like minutes when I sense someone standing close to me. Thinking it's uncle Marty I try to get up fast, but as I do, the pain I feel, makes me cry out and clench my eyes shut.

'Randy?' I hear a small voice with sniffles in between. Oh god, Gracie. I try to get up slowly and pretend I'm ok. It's difficult not to wince with every movement I make, but I try to stay strong for Gracie. I pull myself towards the couch and slowly sink down in it. I'm glad to notice there is hardly any blood present. But that doesn't make the pain any less.

I can feel Gracie getting on the couch and sit beside me.

'Are you hurting?' I smile softly at her.

'I'm ok.' Her eyes tear up again as I wince, moving my left leg. I can just feel my knee starting to swell up. How am I going to hide this? I look at her and see the tears threatening to spill. 'Oh honey, come here.' I hold my arms open and she slowly stands and crawls into my lap. I try not to let her notice the pain that comes up as she accidently bumps into my stomach.

Then I pull her closer, ignoring my agony. She needs me more right now. I hold her as tight as I can and sway with her, trying to get her to calm down.

'It's ok, Grace, everything is going to be fine.' I stroke her hair and let her cry on my shoulder. 'But Gracie?' I lean back a little and she looks at me sniffling. I wipe away a falling tear with my thumb. 'You need to promise me something. You can't tell anyone about this, alright? We need to keep this a secret just between the two of us. Can you do that, Gracie?' She sniffles and quietly nods. 'Alright, good girl.' I pull her tightly again.

After a while her she has stopped crying and I notice her breathing has slowed down. As I look at her face I notice she has fallen asleep. I try once again not to wince, as I get up and lay her down on the couch. I take the blanket that hangs on the edge and gently cover her with it.

Then, with great effort I get up of the couch and try not to scream out in pain as I put my left leg on the ground. I heavily limp towards the cellar door as slowly as possible. But I have to go faster as I hear the garage opening, a sign that mom is coming home. Thankfully there's no sign of what happened in the living room. All mom is going to find is a peacefully sleeping Gracie.

Now all I have to do is find out how I'm going to walk around without anyone asking questions as to why I'm limping. Like I'll be able to prevent that... Fuck! I wince again as I start down the stairs. It's kind of hard to go down stairs without using both legs, but I need to try...

As I finally make it downstairs, I lay down on my bed breathing heavily. I put up my leg and squeeze my eyes shut, letting my leg throb painfully and my heart pounding fast.

I lay there for what seems like hours, letting the pain go away. As I hear mom calling me from upstairs for dinner, I'm happy to say the pain is less than it was before. I brace myself as I get up from the bed and slowly go upstairs.

Before I open the door I take a deep breath and put a smile on my face, as I pretend to be fine and try not to limp. If anyone asks; I tripped and fell on my knee, leaving a big bruise...

--

A/N Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews again. Here is my next chapter, I hope you like it.

Remember: read and review and I'll update my stories as soon as possible!


	10. Chapter 9 Conversations At Midnight

Chapter 9 Conversations At Midnight

I thankfully got through the day without any problems. My knee still hurts like hell and eating was difficult as the pain in my stomach caused me to feel sick. But I put on a great act apparently as noone questioned me. It might also have something to do with the fact that my mom's cooking was really bad tonight and even she felt a little sick after eating it.

They did notice my limp though, but I told them about me tripping and hurting my knee. Mom wanted to look at it, but I convinced her I was fine. Uncle Marty had gone out to eat with a friend, so dinner was relaxed. And afterwards we gathered around the tv and watched a movie together, like a family.

I hadn't realized it at first, but I would be going to school again tomorrow. So now I'm getting slightly worried. I mean, fooling my family is one thing. But fooling the entire school, now that's a different story.

Like every night since uncle Marty first got to me, I go to bed early before ayone else. That way, I can get dressed without risking anyone seeing my bruises.

I take a shower first, which amazingly feels very refreshing. But I have to shower fast as I can't stand too long. Not just because of the throbbing of my knee, but also because my stomach still makes me nauseous and dizzy.

When I'm done, I wrap a towel around my waist carefully and look at my body in the mirror. Wow, my arms are full of bruises. And there are visible scars on my chest where he hit me with that belt. And my stomach... There is a big black and blue bruise on the right side of my stomach that hurts to touch.

I put on some boxers and put the towel on the side. Then I splash some water in my face as I am once again starting to feel a little dizzy. After that I had back to my bedroom. I normally take my pyjamas with me to the bathroom, but somehow I forgot as my mind was busy thinking about school tomorrow.

I quickly open the door and look to see if anyone's inside. I breath a sigh of relief as the room is empty. I get inside and hurry over to my closet and take a longsleeved pyjama-top with matching bottom.

I put the bottoms on and get ready to put the shirt on when a voice behind me stops me in my tracks.

'Hey Brad? I found your gameboy, it was under the bed...' His voice dies down as my younger brother appears from under the bed. 'Randy?' I hear him gasp as he sees the bruises on my arms.

My heart sinks as I also hear my older brother coming down the stairs and stepping in the room.

'Oh, good. I knew it had to be here somewhere...' he stops walking as he looks to see what Mark is staring at. 'What the hell happened to you?' My heart is pounding like crazy. What should I do? I can't turn around, I can't let them see my chest and my stomach.

'Uhm, nothing. I tripped and fell, remember?' I have to try something.

'That's bull Randy. Let me see your arms.' I keep my back to both of them as I start walking away from them.

'I'm fine Brad. Will you excuse me, I have to..' I wince as Brad grabs my left arm and turns me around to face him. I look at the ground as their eyes widen and they both gasp as they see the horrible looking bruises and scars on my chest and stomach.

I quickly take my shirt and put it on as I keep looking at the floor.

'Randy... What... How did you.. What happened?' Brad nearly whispers to me with concern in his voice. 'Your chest... and your stomach... Who did this to you?' he starts towards me, but I back away.

'Look, I'm fine ok? Noone hurt me. I just tripped and fell.'

'Yeah, sure you did. What, and those almost fading gashes on your chest just magically appeared and dissapeared?' I look at the ground again. 'Randy? Please talk to me. Who did this to you?'

'I already told you, noone hurt me, I'm fine. Just leave me alone!' I start towards the bathroom as Brad grabs my arm again.

'Who did this to you? Was it anyone we know?' I wince as he presses one of my bruises.

'No, just get away from me. Let go of me, Brad!' he looks angry. 'I said, let go!' I pull my arm free as we both look at each other with angry looks.

'Why won't you tell us? We are your brothers, we can help you!'

'I don't need your fucking help, Brad! I'm fine. Just leave me the hell alone!' I walk over to my bed and grab a pillow and my blanket.

'Where are you going?' Brad questions me.

'I'm going to sleep on the couch. At least the couch doesn't ask stupid questions.' With that I stomp up the stairs and slam the door behind me.

As I make it to the living room, I go and sit down on the couch and feel emotions coming up. I can't belive I could be so careless. I should be more careful. Now that they know about my bruises, they'll watch me even closer.

Oh, god, what if they tell mom and dad? No, I can't think about that right now. They probably won't do that anyway. I'll just deny everything they say anyway...

Okay, I need to go to sleep. First I need to think of a way to get through school tomorrow. After that I can go back to worrying about all my other problems.

It's going to be a long day...

_Meanwhile, back in the boys' bedroom..._

'What do you think is going on? You really think someone's hurting him?' Mark asks his older brother as they both lie in bed.

'Oh, come on Mark. You saw the way he was acting. And those bruises... It's obvious he didn't trip and hurt himself. He's been acting different longer than today, you know that. I mean, we talked about it before remember? he's been so quiet and the jokes have become less and less each day. He's just not the same person. And it's not just him. Gracie, too.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean. Just yesterday I ripped my pants right next to him. And he didn't comment, not one joke.'

'Exactly my point.'

'I mean, that was so easy. Oh, and the way he and Gracie act around eachother... She hardly even responds to us anymore. She just follows Randy around all day, she really clings to him. And he is so overprotective of her. Did you notice Randy's reaction when uncle Marty wanted to take Gracie's hand tonight to take her to bed? He acted like uncle Marty was about to attack her or something. That was so weird. Don't you think?' They both think about this for a minute. That was weird.

'yeah, it was...' Brad sounds distant as he thinks about this some more. 'Wait a minute...' He sits up as he realizes something. 'This whole thing started when uncle Marty moved in.'

'What? Oh, come one, Brad. That is just a coincidence. You don't really think uncle Marty has something to do with this, do you?'

'I don't know... All I know is, things have changed in this house since he moved in and not in a good way.'

'I don't believe that, I just don't think he is capable of doing that.'

'Oh really? What about what he did to Gracie? Remember the first time he was here, when he was here with aunt Nancy? How he grabed her and yelled at her? He's capable of it and Randy knows that, too.'

'He made a mistake, so what? He was upset and he apologised for it. It doesn't prove anything.'

'Maybe it doesn't, but I'm keeping my eye on him. And we should both keep an eye on Randy. As long as we stick by him, he can't get hurt. Who knows, maybe then he'll feel safe enough to tell us what's going on.'

'Yeah right, Brad, like he's really going to tell us. If he could and wanted to, he would have told us by now.'

'Yeah maybe, but I'm not giving up. I will find out what is going on and I'm going to put a stop to it. You just watch.'

'Whatever, Brad. You do that, I'm going to sleep. Some of us live in the real world and like to be able to stay awake when they are in school.'

'Why would you want that?' Mark groans at the lousy joke his brother makes.

'Goodnight, Brad.'

'yeah, goodnight.' I hope you're okay, Randy. Don't worry, whoever it is, I'll make sure the basterd never touches you again. That's a promise.

_With that all three boys finally drift off to sleep, each of them getting ready to face a new school year in their own way. It will become a year none of them will ever forget..._

--

A/N Oh, is Brad finally on to something? Will he be able to put a stop to it before it's too late? Find out by reading and reviewing my stories and I'll try to update as soon as possible!


	11. Chapter 10 Back To School

Chapter 10 Back To School

This morning I got up extra early to avoid my brothers as today is our first day back to school. We had breakfast together, but I hurried and told everyone I had to go early because I was meeting someone. Ofcourse, that was a lie.

Brad tried to follow me, but as he went to get his backpack I hurried out the back door and left, walking a different route than usual and soon I lost him.

After last night's conversation, I really don't want to be near either of my brothers. I can't risk them finding out about anything. I have to avoid them at all costs, for Gracie's sake. Let's just hope I get through this day okay.

My knee was still throbbing when I got up, but it does feel better than last night, so that's good. I try not to limp much today as I really don't want to have to explain to everyone what happened.

On my way to my first class I come across Lauren, my ex-girlfriend. We went out for a long time, until she became popular and I guess I wasn't good enough anymore. Now she's dating the captain of the basketball team. Oh, well, maybe I'm better off. I never wanted to hang out with the popular crowd anyway. They have way too much fun and way too little intelligence. In the end I think she fits right in. I'm not bitter, really, I'm not.

I keep walking towards my locker as I suddenly hear my older brother call my name from behind me. Damnit! I groan and turn around. He comes running towards me and is breathing.

'Man, you walk fast. I thought you'd wait for me, so we could go to school together.' I don't look at him. Instead I put some books in my locker.

'Yeah, well, you were taking so long, I got impatient. And besides, wy did we have to come together anyway? Don't you have friends or girls to hang out with?'

'Well, yeah, but we haven't hung out in a while. I just thought we could talk on the way over. You know, about last night.' He whispered the last part, making me feel very annoyed. I turn towards him and glare at him.

'Look, Brad. I thought I made myself clear last night. I don't need your help, everything is fine. I don't want to talk about this anymore. As far as I'm concerned, last night never even happened, alright?' From the look he gives me I know he doesn't agree, but that's not my problem. 'Just stay out of my way, alright? Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to class. I'll see you back home.' With that I left him standing there, still concerned, but at least he knows how I feel.

Five hours later and six classes later I'm feeling exhausted. My lack of sleep in the last couple of weeks haven't been very helpfull. And my knee isn't doing too good either. All this walking between classes hasn't been good as the small throbbing it started out with, has turned into pain shooting through it every few steps. It especially hurts when I have to walk up or down the stairs. I'm not that into medicine, but I know that's not a good thing.

I finally make it back down the stairs and limp heavily towards my locker. Thankfully the halway is practically empty, so no one is here to see me. I put my final books in the locker and take out English, my final class. It's starting in half an hour, so I have some time to myself. I'll just go sit outside, let my knee rest a bit.

I start to limp towards the door as all of a sudden Lauren comes around the corner. She smiles and I politely smile back. I want to walk towards her, but I stop as her boyfriend suddenly appears from around the corner. As he sees me he gives me a sly smile and puts his arm around Lauren and kisses her, all the while still looking at me. He smiles even wider as he sees my annoyance. Then, he lets go of Lauren as she hurries upstairs, probably going to put on some more make-up.

So now I'm left alone with the always so bright Jared. We've never gotten along and now that he's going out with Lauren, he's an even bigger asshole. He knows I really cared about Lauren and maybe still do and he will do anything to ruin my day. His locker is not even in this hallway, but he stays anyway, just to get to me.

I choose to ignore him and continue walking towards the door. He's too stupid to get the hint, so he follows me. I pick up my step, but regret it right away, as pain shoots through my knee, making me stop. I hear him getting closer now. When he's behind me, he slaps my books out of my hands and starts laughing as I turn towards him with a exasperated sigh.

'Wow, funny. Did you come up with that all by yourself?' He just keeps laughing as I bend down to pick up my books. He laughs even harder when he slaps them out of my hands a second time. I sigh again as I start to feel angry.

'Okay, just ignore him. It's not his fault he was born without a brain.' I say to myself loud enough for him too hear me. I smile as I notice he has finally stopped laughing.

'What did you say?'

'Oh, I'm sorry, did I say that out loud? Cause I meant to do that.' I give him a glare and turn my back towards him as I continue my walk. I stop as he grabs my books more forcefully and throws them on the floor.

Okay, now he's really starting to piss me off. We just glare at each other as the bell rings. Within a few minutes the hallway is covered with students. They start to gather around us as they notice the tension between us, expecting a fight.

But we don't, we just stand there, staring at each other. Then he smiles as I try to take my books, but he gets there before I do and grabs them.

'Give me the books Jared.' He just smiles.

'What is it? You want these? Come and get them, shorty.' He holds them in the air far enough, so I can't reach them.

'What are you going to do with those books? I mean, there aren't any pictures in them, so how are you going to read them?' The crowd around us has gotten bigger. They all stare at Jared and wait for his reaction. His smile has faded and he doesn't look very happy. I just stare at him with half a smile.

'Oh, you think that's funny, huh? Okay, we'll see who has the last laugh. Here, take these books.' He gives the boks to one of his basketball buddies and starts to take off his jacket. Oh, here we go. Me and my big mouth. 'Alright, let's go. I'll even give you a head start. You can try to hit me first and I'll just beat you up afterwards. Come on.'

I let out an annoyed sigh. 'I'm not going to fight you. Why do you always think you need to solve this with fighting? Don't you have anything better to do?'

'Actually I did have English. But I figure who needs that, when I can beat you up. It's a lot more fun. Now, come on, hit me.'

'I am not going to fight you!' He doesn't seem to get the hint as he just keeps walking around me with his fists in the air, taunting me to hit him. I just glare and want to walk away. He stops me by grabbing my shoulder and forcefully turning me around.

'Hey, where are you going? We aren't finished yet.' I try to walk away, but he pushes me.

'Don't touch me. I am going outside, because you are acting like an idiot.' I turn my back towards him again and he grabs my arm, accidently touching a big bruise on my upper arm. The pain gets in the way of my thinking as I lash out and aim for his face. He saw it coming though and he steps aside and sticks out his leg, making me trip and fall. I land hard on my already throbbing knee and a flash of pain hits me full force.

My vision starts to become blurry as I try to get up. In the distance I can hear someone calling my name. In the blurry images in front of me, I notice the crowd mving apart as someone pushes through it. Brad. I try to stand, but as everything has started spinning, I fall back down. Spots are dancing in front of my eyes as I try to focus.

Brad

When I heard about the fight in the hallway and my brother being involbed I rushed right over. Randy has the tendency to say the wrong things at the wrong time, usually resulting into trouble. So I thought I'd go and see if everything's ok. He can take care of himself. Despite his size, he's pretty strong, he just doesn't like to fight.

As I see the large group standing in the hallway, I know I've reached the fight. I try to see what's going on, but It's difficutl as the crowd is big. I try to push my way forward, until I can hear my brothers's voice telling the basket ball captain, Jared, to not touch him. I push through faster and finally make it in the circle just in time to see Jared tripping Randy and him landing hard on his knee. I'm guessing it's the knee he fell on before as I see his face contort with pain. His face goes white and his eyes grow wide as he lies still on the ground. Jared and his friends just laugh.

'What the hell is wrong with you, Jared? Fucking asshole. How can you just stand there laughing, can't you tell he's in a lot of pain?'

'Oh, come on Brad. We were just having some fun.'

'Look at him! Does he look like he's having fun?' Jared looks at Randy and his smile dissapears as he sees his face has completely lost all colour and he's blinking heavily, wincing everytime he tries to get up.

'I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to hurt him, I was just kidding around.' I glare at him.

'Yeah and it was really funny. Just get out of here, Jared. And take your butt-ugly friends with you. Everyone just leave, there's nothing to see here.' As everyone turns to leave I walk towards Randy and lean towards him.

'Are you alright? Do you need my help getting up?

'Yeah, I'm fine. I don't need your help, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you.' He tries to get up and cries out in pain as he moves his knee.

'yeah, I can see that. Come on, give me your hand.' I hold out my hand to him and he just looks at it.

'I don't need your help, Brad. You've done quite enough by embarissing me in front of the whole school.' I just roll my eyes and grab his hand.

'Yeah, yeah whatever. Just grab my hand, I'm going to pull you up.' He grabs my hand and as I pull, I can feel his grip tightening as his knee bends back to a standing position.

'Can you stand?'

'Yeah, I think so.' But as soon as he tries to put weight on it, I have to grab him as he nearly passes out from the pain.

'Okay, I'll take that as a no. Come on, just lean on me, I'll take you to the nurse's office.' I can tell he wants to protest again. 'Just shut up Randy and do it. You can't stand right now, you need my help. Stop trying to protest. Or would you rather walk there by yourself and pass out in front of everyone?' He looks down. 'Good, then let's go. I'll call mom and dad when were there, so one of them can come pick you up.' Heopens his mouth to say something, but one look from me and he shuts it again. He finally gives up as he knows he'snot going to win this one.

He may be known as the smart one, but I have my moments.

I drop him off at the nurse's station and go look for a phone to call our parents as he stops me.

'Brad?' I turn towards him as one of the nurses leads him towards the examanation bed.

'Thanks.' He smiles at me and I give him a smile back.

'No problem, that's what brothers are for.' He nods in gratitude and sits on the bed as I prepare myself for the call home.

Somehow, I don't think they'll be pleased. Oh, well, I guess I don't have to tell them exactly what happened. I take a deep breath as I dial the number and wait for someone to pick up. Randy owes me big time!

--

A/N Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews so far. Here's another chapter with brotherly fluff. I hpe you like it. Don't worry, Randy and Gracie fluff is coming up in next chapter, as is the angst part. Let me know what you think!

Please read and review and I'll again try to update as soon as possible


	12. Chapter 11 Back Off!

Chapter 11 Back off!

Randy

Well, that went great for my first day back at school, it went better than I thought. I'm definitely grateful for Brad's help. He called home, so someone could come pick me up. Dad was home, so he came to pick me up. Now we're just sitting in the waiting room for a doctor to come, so he can examine my knee. I'm holding an ice pack on it wrapped in a towel, while dad is filling out forms, every once in a while asking me if I'm ok. He's sort of mad about the fight, but I told him I didn't do anything, at least not physically. But according to him, I shouldn't have said anything either. Maybe he's right.

Brad told him that I tripped and fell again and he believed it. But unfortunately word got out at school about the 'fight' and the principal heard about it too. He gave Jared detention and almost gave me the same, but Brad stood up for me as well as other people who saw that I didn't do anything. But ofcourse he did talk to dad about it, so now Brad and I are both grounded. Him for lying and me for getting into a fight, even though I didn't do anything!

Well, here comes the nurse with a wheelchair. Dad gets up and starts pulling me up on my right side. I try to protest, but he doesn't listen. I cry out in pain as him pulling me is forcing me to lean on my left leg. He looks at me in shock.

'Wrong leg..' I can barely choke this out in pain. He apologizes as the nurse looks at him scoldingly and grabs me from the other side, slapping his hand away. She helps me into the weelchair and I put up my leg. She then rolls me towards the Emergency Room.

About hour of screaming out in pain later and pure torture as the doctor has endlessly probed my knee and X-rayed it, he determines that I sprained it. I couldn't believe my ears when he said that, it hurts too much to be a sprain. But after running all the necessary tests, that's his final conclusion.

It still hurts a lot right now, but he will inject steroids into my knee to lessen it. According to him, my knee might take several weeks to fully heal. And I will have to use crutches and try to stay of that leg as much as possible, keeping it elevated if I'm sitting or lying down.

So now I'm sitting on the examanation bed, while the nurse has gone to get crutches and the doctor is preparing the injection with a, might I say, rather large needle. I'm not fond of those, but I'm able to handle it better than my dad. When he needs an injection, he usually starts screaming like a girl. He'll never admit to it, but I witnessed it once, so I can hold it against him for the rest of his life. And trust me, I will.

Right now dad is eyeing the bedframe, since it squeaks everytime I move. I really hope he doesn't do anything. If I'm in pain again because of him, I'm taking him down with me.

I can see him getting on his knees now.

'Dad, what are you doing?' I whisper to him, so the doctor won't hear him. As he gets up, he bumps his head on the frame.

'I just want to fix this bed, that squeak has to come from the bottom somewhere, It's really annoying.'

'Dad stop it. You might break something.'

'I'm not going to break anything, I just want to fix it.'

'Yeah right, like you fixed the toaster last week?'

'It was not my fault that it blew up. I just wanted to make it go faster.'

'Dad, please, could you just stop.'

'I know what I'm doing.' Just then the doctor turns around and walks towards us. I look at him and hope he doesn't see my dad as he is still under the bed.

'Alright, Randy. Just relax, this will only hurt for just a minute.' I close my eyes as he approaches my knee with the very large needle.

'I've got it!' I can only hear the doctor yell out in pain and my dad cursing as his head hits the bed. I'm still waiting for the needle, but nothing happens. I slowly open one eye. I open them wide in shock as I see the doctor lying on the floor with the big needle in his arm and now also a gash on his head. I slap myself in the forehead, as I see my dad smiling at me sheepishly, holding up his hands. 'Well, at least the bed doesn't squeak anymore...'

_2,5 hours later_

We finally arrive home after 2,5 hours. They had to get me a new doctor. And dad wasn't allowed anywhere near the room, they actually wanted him to go sit in the car. Why can't he ever just act normal...

Anyway, they finally did numb the pain with steroids and gave me a kneebrace. The doctor told me I will have to wear it for about two weeks and use the crutches ofcourse. I'm not allowed to move around too much, which annoys me, since I love hanging out and running around with Gracie. But well, if I don't follow the rules, it might get worse, so I tend to stick to them.

The doctor said; if the pain becomes worse or it starts to swell or anything, I have to go back to the hospital.

Yeah, he should tell uncle Marty that. Maybe he'll leave me alone. He is going to love this. Now he can torture me all he wants. It's not like I'm going to run away from him...

Oh and when we were in the hospital I realized going to bed was going to be a problem, since I sleep in the basement. I told the doctor that and he said there is absolutely no way he will allow that. So, I talked to dad and we discussed maybe for the time being that I could stay in the living room. Maybe on the couch or move a bed up there. But we would discuss it with mom when we got home.

As I hobble out of the car, dad opens the front door and there's mom looking at me all worried. She puts her arms around me and helps me over to the couch, all the time asking if I'm ok in a concerned voice. I guess most guys would love this kind of attention, but I hate it. I want to be independant, I don't want help. And people asking me if I'm ok all the time, really piss me off. Not that I'm going to tell mom that, but I will let her know she needs to back off.

When I sit on the couch, she helps me put up my feet, putting a pillow under my left leg. The she starts propping up hte pillows behind my back and asking if I want a drink.

'I was so worried about you. Your dad called me after he go the call. Are you ok? Do you need anythign else? I could make you some hot chocolate with some cookies.'

'No, I'm fine. I don't need anything.'

'Really, cause it's no problem really, I could make you some...'

'Mom, stop! I'm fine, really. You don't have to take care of me like this. If I want anything I'll get it myself, ok?' She smiles at me.

'Ok, ok, I'll stop. I'm just glad you're ok.' She hugs me again. Then she gets up and starts dinner.

I turn on the tv and dad comes and sits next to me, carefully avoiding my leg ofcourse. Just then I hear giggling and someone rushing down the stairs.

'Randy! You're home!' Gracie comes running up to me and crawls on the couch, into my arms. I immediately start tickling her.

'Hey munchkin! How was your first day of school?' She giggles. Dad looks at us with amusement.

'It was fun... Stop it!' She giggles and tries to squirm out of my grasp. The she accidently kicks out one of her legs on my knee, making me wince. Now, I'm lucky the knee is still numb, making the pain just throb. But dad looks at me in concern anyway and Gracie stops giggling and looks at me in fright.

'I'm sorry..' I give them both a reassuring smile.

'It's ok, I hardly felt it. So, you had fun today, huh? What did you do, tell me all about it.'

She starts telling me everything about her first day of school, how she's already made new friends. We continue chatting away all through dinner, sharing a laugh now and then as everyone talks about their day.

I'm glad no one really mentions what happened today, apart from dicussing sleeping arrangements ofcourse. In the end I convince them I'll be fine on the couch as mom and dad head to bed. Mom keeps asking me if it's really ok and if I need anything I can just use the intercom. It gets so bad, she almost wants to come spend the night downstairs with me. After she says that, Brad steps in and tells her he'll stay with me. Ofcourse after that, so does Mark. I don't know why they offered to stay, but I don't mind. At least now I don't have to worry about a certain someone trying to kill me in my sleep...

As we all start to fall asleep I can't help but wonder where uncle Marty was today. No one mentioned him. Maybe he finally got a job, one that makes him work late hours? I really hope so, because right now, I wouldn't stand a chance against him. What will he do when he finds out I can't walk properly? Will he take advantage of it or leave me alone untill I'm able to fight back again?

Okay, I need to stop worrying about this. I don't want to lose sleep over this. I have school again tomorrow and it's going to be hard enough to get through the day when you're walking on crutches everywhere, let alone when you're tired also.

So, I lay my head on the pillow and in fifteen minutes I finally fall asleep.

As everyone is fast asleep, no one notices the front door opening as the last Taylor resident steps in. He walks into the living room and feels anger rising as he notices all three of his nephews asleep. Two of them on sleeping cots on the floor and one on the couch, with crutches lying on the ground next to him.

Marty__

So, you need crutches to move around do you? This could be fun, then.. You should be glad you're brothers are here to protect you right now. Don't think I didn't notice the way Brad was looking at me like a hawk, following me around all day, not letting me out of his sight. And most importantly, he kept Gracie away from me. I don't know what you did, kid, but he knows what's going on and I'm going to make you pay, you just watch... Oh, wait, I forgot the agreement. I won't have to get you alone, I've got Gracie...

With a sneer he silently walks away from the sleeping forms and starts to climb the stairs, heading directly towards his daughters room, making no sound at all, he wakes her up and puts his hand on her mouth, gesturing for her to stay quiet.

Randy

Meanwhile downstairs I'm tossing and turning. The steroids are starting to wear off, so the pain in my knee is becoming intenser. I finally can't take it anymore, I need to take one of the painkillers my doctor prescribed me. I slowly get up, trying not to move my knee and picking up the crutches next to me.

I hobble over to the kitchen carefully, as I don't want to wake my brothers. I smirk as I hear Brad talking in his sleep. Obviously he still likes Angela...  
I reach into the bottom cabinet and grab the bottle of pills. I open it and take one out. I put the bottle back and grab a glass, filling it with water. Just as I start to swallow the pill with some water, I hear something upstairs. I'm probably imagening things.

I walk back to the couch as I hear it again. It sounds like stomping or something... Then I hear a loud whisper and a small cry... I can feel panic rising as I notice the coat hanging on the dining chair. Uncle Marty...

Forgetting all about the pain in my knee, I hobble towards the stairs as fast as I can on the crutches. I realize I can't walk up the stairs with them, so I put them next to the staircase and try to hang on to the banister, putting as much weight as possible on my non-injured right leg.

As I finally reach upstairs, I try to grab on to the wall and quietly make my way to Gracie's room. The door is ajar. I carefuly open it, to see Gracie cowering in a corner and uncle Marty standing over her, belt in one hand and in the air.

I storm over to him, take hold of the belt and pull on it with all my strength. Surprised, he lets go and turns around towards me.

'How the hell did you get up here? I thought you couldn't walk? Oh well, it doesn't matter. You're just in time to watch the show.' He whispers.

'Don't touch her. You said you wouldn't touch her!' He smiles at me.

'Well, you said you wouldn't tell anyone what happened. You knew what would happen if you did and well, here we are. Now if you'll excuse me.' he turns towards her, but I grab his shoulder and turn him back around. I know he's getting angrier by the second...

'What are you talking about? I didn't tell anyone anything.'

'Really? Then why is Brad following me around when I'm in the house. He won't let me come anywhere near Gracie, which means he knows something. Something you told him.'

'I didn't tell Brad anything.' he just turns around to face Gracie, so I once more turn him towards me. 'I'm talking to you. I didn't tell anyone anything, so leave her alone. Just back off!' He's pissed now and so he grabs my arms and pushes me against the wall, leaning in close to my face.

'Look, kid. I'm getting really tired of this. I know Brad's on to something and he's not smart enough to figure it out by himself, so you must have told him. Now you better get out of my face, before I make you...' He stops mid-sentence as he hears something. That gaves me the advantage I need. I squirm out of his grasp and before he realizes it, I lash out and punch him square in the nose.

Just then the lights in Gracie's room come on and dad stands there looking tired.

'What is going on in here? Why aren't you slee... Marty, Randy? What are you doing in here? And why are you holding your nose, what happend' I'm still standing, looking pissed and my hands balled into fists. Uncle Marty is holding his nose, which has now begun to bleed.

'He hit me. I just came in here to say goodnight to Gracie and he just attacks me from out of nowhere! I have no idea why, I didn't do anything.' I look at him with wide eyes in shock.

'Randy, why would you do that?' Now, I give my dad the same look.

'Excuse me? You can't honestly tell me you believe him, right?'

'What could he have possible done for you to attack him like this? How did you even get up here? I'm really hoping you have some kind of good explanation for this.' Okay, he can't be serious...

'Yes I do. I came up here, because I heard a noise coming from upstairs. When I got up here, he was here in Gracie's room, with a belt in his hand, ready to hit her!' I try not to look at uncle Marty, but I can feel the glare he's giving me. As I look at dad, he just looks at me in disbelief. 'You do believe me, right? Dad, I'm telling you the truth. Why would I make this up?' He sighs and rubs his face.

'I don't know what's going on with you lately Randy, but this draws the line right here. You are grounded. I'll have to talk to your mom about this, to see for how long. Don't look at me like that. Where the hell did you come up wiht that story? This is your uncle we're talking about. He would never hurt Gracie, she's his daughter!'

'But dad..'

'No buts, just go downstairs and go to sleep. I don't want to hear another word out of you. Just go to sleep and tomorrow we can discuss your punishment. I just hope you can come up with a better excuse by then.'

'But..'

'Go!' I storm towards the stairs, once again ignoring the pain in my knee. In the way downstairs I come across Mark and Brad who heard the commotion and came to see what's going on.

'There's nothing to see, I'm going bacl to bed, goodnight.' I want to brush past them, but Brad stops me.

'Come on, I'll help you down.'

'Brad, I don't need your help, I'm fin...' He shuts me up wiht one look. I roll my eyes as I let him help me go down the stairs. At the end he gives me my crutches and I hobble towards the couch. He helps me put my feet back up.

'Thanks.'

'No prob. Now why don't you tell us what's going on. Did I hear that right? Did you really hit uncle Marty? Because you thought he was going o hurt Gracie?' I try to avoid his look. But I realize that by doing just that, I've already given him an answer. Just as I want to open my mouth, I jawn loudly. 'Ok, uhm, why don't we just go to sleep right now. But tomorrow you're going to tell me everything, you hear me?' I don't respond. 'Goodnight, Randy.'

But I don't respond back to that either, for as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out. Tonight's events in combination with my painkillers knock me out 'till morning...

--

A/N Hi everyone! Sorry for the long wait, I had a bit of writer's block again. The end of this story is coming in sight slowly now. I want to thank everyone for their reviews so far and I wanted to ask you once again to read and review if you want me to update :)

If you have any suggestions for next chapters, let me know, maybe I can somehow extend the story. I meant for it to be longer than 15 chapters, but right now, I could have it finished by 14. So let me know if you have ideas, I can always use some fresh ideas :)

Thanks again and enjoy! Love, Baxxie


	13. Chapter 12 Denial

Chapter 12 Denial...

Randy

This morning my knee throbbed badly and woke me up in the process. Apparently I had been groaning about it in my sleep, because when I opened my eyes, I could see a glass of water with my painkillers next to it on the table. My brothers were both fast asleep, but I'm sure it was one of them.

I gratefully took the pill with the water and the pain subdued soon enough.

A few hours later I woke up again. This time Brad was shaking my shoulders, telling me we had to go to school in about an hour and I still had to eat breakfast.

He handed me my crutches and 50 minutes later, I was fully dressed and on my way to school.

Now, about five boring and fairly painful hours later, I'm home again, on the couch with my feet up, watching tv and trying to do my homework at the same time. Who says only women can do more than one thing at a time?

After about two minutes I agree with whoever said that. I turn off the tv as it's starting to distract me.

I've been feeling somewhat nervous all day. I've been avoiding Brad and Mark, who keep wanting to talk to me about last night.

And ofcourse I'm not talking to dad. If he wants to talk, he better apologise first.

I turn my head towards the front door as it slowly opens. Mom picked Gracie up from school. I smile brightly at her as she runs up to me and crawls on teh couch with me. I give her a big hug.

'Okay, I have to go back to work now. I won't be back until about seven o'clock, so I might not have time to make dinner. I'll leave some money on the counter so you can order pizza.'

'Wait, you're not cooking? We'll have to miss your burned patatoes and green meatloaf. Oh, why, why...' I dramatically make a fainting gesture while Gracie giggles. Mom throws a pillow at me. It hits me in the face and mom laughs as I give out an oempf.

'See you guys tonight. Behave, alright? Bye!' We wave goodbye as she closes the door behind her.

'Okay, now that she's gone, what would you like to do, Gracie?' She looks at my books, that are still open on the couch beside me.

'Oh, don't worry, I can do that later. Would you like to do some colouring again?' She shakes her head and then starts to rub her eyes.

'A little tired, huh?' She nods slowly. 'Well, why don't you go take a nap upstairs then. I'd love to come tuck you in, but I can't get up the stairs right now. Will you be okay by yourself?' She nods again. Then she leans towards my face and kisses me on the cheek. I can't help but feel even more caring for her. I hug her and then kiss her head. 'Sleep well, okay?' I watch her walk up the stairs sleepily. Then I sigh and grab my books once again.

I'm worried about Gracie. I mean, I did kind of confess to everyone what uncle Marty was up to, which means I can expect revenge from him, even though dad didn't believe me. I don't know what he's going to do, I just hope he stays away from Gracie this time. I better keep an eye on her...

Okay, now I'm distracting myself... I try to tune out my worries and focus on my homework.

When that doesn't work, I take my walkman and put up some music.

Finally my thoughts only consist of the music in my ears right now. I actually get some work done.

I'm so far into the music and my homework, I don't notice someone coming in the house and sitting next to me, until he taps my shoulder. I almost jump a mile as I thought it was uncle Marty again.

'Brad, you scared the living daylights out of me. Don't do that.' He doesn't look too happy.

'Why have you been avoiding me?' I look back at my homework and avoid his gaze once again.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' He grabs my shoulder and forces me to look at him.

'Just stop, alright? Look, we agreed you would tell me what happened last night and before that. I know something is wrong and it has something to do with uncle Marty.' I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off. 'Don't say that nothing is going on, because we both know that's not true. I'm just worried about you. You haven't been yourself lately and I want to help you.' I look away and he gently pulls on my shoulder again. 'Please Randy, I just want to help you. I'm not going to tell anyone, I promise. Was uncle Marty really going to hurt Gracie last night?' I don't look at him.

'Come on Randy. Why can't you tell me? Wait... does this have something to do with those bruises on your body? He did that didn't he? And now he's threatened to hurt you or Gracie if you say anything. That's it, isn't it?'

I turn towards him now.

'That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. No, he didn't hurt either one of us.' He raises an eyebrow.

'Really? Then what was last night all about? Why did you hit him?'

'Because I felt like it.'

'yeah, right Randy. You're telling me you nearly broke his nose and accused him of getting ready to hit his own daughter, because you felt like it? That is such a load of crap and you know it.' I just look back into my book and start on my homework again.

'Fine, if you don't believe me, whatever Brad. Could you excuse me now, I'd like to finish my homework.' He gets up of the couch and stomps off when all of a sudden he stops. I sigh, 'cause I know he's going to say something back to me.

'Oh, come on Randy. He already knows anyways. Why not just tell him everything, huh? Come on, I'll even fill in any missing details.' The voice speaking those words make me freeze in my spot. Now I finally realize why Brad stopped walking. I slowly turn around and look straight at the evily smiling face of Uncle Marty...

--

A/N Hi everyone! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but it felt right to stop here. Hope you enjoy reading it, I'm trying to prolong it so I can put up more chapters than I intended. I love writing this story :)

I wanted to thank Randy Taylor for helping me with my stories whenever I'm stuck, I really appreciate it, so thank you so much!

I'll try to update again soon, so please read and review! Love, Baxxie


	14. Chapter 13 My Brother's Protector

Chapter 13 My Brother's Protector

'Uncle Marty, what are you talking about?' I try to say nonchalant, but I can't keep the quiver out of my voice as he stares at both of us with a sneer.

'Oh, quit the bullshit. You already know what's going on, don't you Brad?' He starts to walk towards Brad, who slowly steps backwards.

'Uh, I don't really know anything, right Randy?' He nervously smiles at me.

'Yeah, he really doesn't. Completely blank.' We both nod and smile.

'Uh uh, nothing but sawdust up here.' We laugh awkwardly. But our smiles fade fast when he grabs Brad by the shirt.

'Listen up, Blondie. I know Randy told you everything already, so why don't we cut the crap and we'll discuss what we're going to do about this situation.'

'This, uh, s-situation?' I get up quickly as he pushes Brad against the wall.

'This, uh, s-situation? Just shut the hell up! Now you listen carefully, tough guy. You will tell me exactly what you know and after that I will let you know what we're going to do about it. Now spill!'

'I don't really know much. We thought-' He slams him into the wall again.

'Wait, we? Who's we?' He looks at me nervously.

'Uncle Marty, please leave him alone, he doesn't know anything. Just stop, please..'

'Stay out of this, shorty. We're talking now. Who's we, Brad?'

'Brad, you don't have to say anything. Uncle Marty please stop, he doesn't have anything to do with this. Just leave him out of this!' In one swift movement he storms over and grabs my arm and bends it behind my back, twisting it painfully. I try to get loose, but he's too strong.

'Uncle Marty, what are you doing? Let go of him!' Brad looks at us with wide eyes and steps forward, looking angry and surprised. Just as he reaches us...

'Don't step any closer!' Brad looks shocked as Uncle Marty puts his other arm near my throat. I don't get why Brad is just standing there. Why doesn't he help me?

But all of a sudden I gulp as I feel the cold steel on my throat. I look at Brad and our eyes meet. I can tell he's scared, probably just as much as I am...

'Please, Uncle Marty, don't do this. I can just call mom and dad and we'll get you some help. Just don't hurt him, please...' You're not helping, Brad...

'You are not going to call anyone, Brad. But there is something you can help me with.'

'Anything, I'll do anything. Please just don't hurt him..' I can't see his face, but I know he's got another sneer on his face.

'Good, you learn fast. I want to make a deal with you, okay?' He nods quickly. 'Okay. Now I agreed with Randy here, that if I'm having a bad day, I get to take it out on him.' Brad's eyes widen at that and he looks at me with concern. I try to avoid his gaze.

'Now, what I need you to do, is not do anything to stop me. And that includes not telling anyone about any of this. The same goes for Mark, since he probably knows all about this. So, if you see him, fill him in on the deal, alright?' I can tell Brad's struggling with this. I look at him and try to plead him with my eyes to agree to this.

'So, is it a deal?' He doesn't respond.

'Brad, please just do as he says..' Uncle Marty puts the knife tighter, almost drawing blood as I hiss.

'Shut up, I wasn't asking you. So, what's it gonna be, Brad? If you don't agree, then I'll just have to kill him, don't I?' He puts the knife closer and this time he does draw blood. I can feel it trickling down my throat. Now I'm starting to really shake in fear. I look at Brad and am surprised to see him looking straight at me. Again I plead with him with my eyes.

As he doesn't respond, Uncle Marty sees it as a sign that he made a decision and starts to move the knife towards the beginning of my throat. I close my eyes in fear and try to control my breathing.

Oh god, he's going to slit my throat... Brad, please do something, anything!  
I prepare myself for any pain, but as Uncle Marty puts more pressure on the knife, Brad speaks up.

'Okay! It's a deal, okay.. Please don't hurt him... I won't say or do anything and neither will Mark, I'll make sure of it...' I can hear the trembling in his voice. This has to be the hardest decision he's ever had to make. He's always wanted to protect us, as the big brother. And now our own family member is hurting me and he can't do anything...

'You hear that, Randy? He's agreed not to stop me when I beat the crap out of you. Isn't that nice of him? Now I don't have to kill you.' He starts to laugh while he lets me go. I fall to the ground as I'm still shaking and my arm hurts. I shakily put a hand on my throat and touch the spot where he nicked me with the knife, wincing when I find it.

I can still hear Uncle Marty laughing as he goes outside and closes the door behind him. Probably heading out to drink or whatever. Who cares anyway, he's gone.

'Randy, I'm so sorry, I had no choice, he was going to kill you... I didn't..'

'Brad, stop. It's okay. You didn't have a choice, you did the right thing, alright?' I wince as I try to move my arm. Brad is at my side in an instant, pulling me up with my good arm. He helps me to the couch and I look at him with gratitude. he walks to the kitchen and I hear water running. Seconds later he's by my side again, holding a wet cloth.

'Here, you're still bleeding.'

'Thanks.' I grab the wet cloth and hold it on the wound and try to wipe off the blood that trickled down the rest of my throat. The room is filled in silence, until Brad speaks up again.

'Are you okay, Randy? And please be honest, okay?' I try not to look at him. 'Randy? Please?'

'Look, I'm OK, Brad. I am, alright? Don't give me that look, I'm fine. My arm is hurting right now, the cut on my throat stings and I'm shaken up, but I'm fine. Well, I will be.' He sighs. 'Come on, Brad. Look, I know you're probably mad that I didn't say anything, but I couldn't. You saw what just happened, you were there. I can't go against him!' He sighs again in frustration and gets up from the couch.

'Yeah, I did see what just happened and I know you're scared. I'm just mad that I didn't see it sooner. Of course you should have said something, but now I understand why you didn't. It's not like you volunteered to get beat up by him, right?' He laughs nervously. I avoid his gaze.

'You didn't, did you? Randy! Why would you do something like that?'

'You don't understand, alright? I had to.'

'No, I don't understand. Why don't you explain it to me?'

'I can't tell you.'

'Excuse me? You can't tell me? I just made a deal not to tell anyone that our Uncle is beating the crap out of you, because he needs to venture and I agreed not to stop him, or he will kill you. I think that should pretty much give you enough reason to tell me everything. It's bad enough that I can't protect you right now, but after all of this, you still want to keep secrets?'

'Brad, you don't have to protect me, I can take care of myself.'

'I do have to protect you. It's my job as the older brother to protect the younger brothers at any time. And it really pisses me off that I can't. Fuck, Randy! I don;t know if I can do this. I can't just stand there and watch as he hurts you... I have to do something, anything...' He sits down again and runs his hands through his hair.

'I know you want to help me, but you can't. I know this is difficult, but I'll be okay, alright? I've survived so far haven't I?' he doesn't respond. 'Look, can we please just stop talking about this? I'm starting to get a headache and my arm still hurts, so I'm getting a painkiller. The others will be home soon and I don't want them to find out what happened. We can talk about this tonight. We'll sleep in the basement, just the three of us and I promise I will tell you everything from the beginning.'

'No more secrets?'

'No more secrets. Now can we go and do something? Gracie is upstairs. She was taking a nap. How about we wake her up and just spend time with her?' We both inhale and exhale deeply and laugh as we notice the other doing the same thing. Then he just smiles and gets up.

'I'll go get Gracie.' He gets up and gives me one last look. 'Are you sure you're okay?' I nod and smile. I know it doesn't reach my eyes and I know he notices, too, but thankfully he doesn't say anything. He just smiles and goes upstairs.

As he's gone, I put my head in my hands, which I notice are still shaking. Man, what a mess... I really hope this goes well.

I can hear Gracie giggling upstairs as Brad is growling like a monster. I smile as I think of her. I thought Uncle Marty was going to hurt her. I mean, that's the threat he made to me. If anyone ever found out about what's going on, he would hurt her. I'm kind of confused that he didn't. I'm relieved of course, but slightly confused. Let's just hope he doesn't change his mind...

--

A/N Hi! I hope you like this chapter. Finally someone knows, but they can't help him! Sorry about that, but else the story would be over in the next chapter and I don't want that. So, I'm going to tease everyone :P Hopefully you don't mind ;)

If you do, let me know in a review or PM me, thanks so much for reading and reviewing so far! Love, Baxxie


	15. Chapter 14 Lend A Helping Hand

Chapter 14 Lend A Helping Hand

Randy

Brad and I spent some quality time with Gracie, just playing around and tickling her, until everyone else came home.

My arm is still hurting and I put on a turtleneck sweater. Hopefully no one will ask any questions. I try very hard not to use my arm, thankfully it's my left arm. I'm right-handed, so I guess I'm lucky there.

Brad keeps looking at me with concern, which is really annoying. He's lucky no one else has seemed to notice. Well, no one, except Mark. Mom and dad don't say anything, but they announce that they will be having dinner at Al and Trudy's tonight. I try not to react too surprised, but I can't stop myself from gulping as Uncle Marty sneers at me when no one's looking.

'Uh, well, maybe we could all go to the movies.' Brad to the rescue.. yeah, that's going to help.

'That's a great idea, Brad. I'll give you guys some money and you can go eat some pizza before going to the movies. You can take Gracie with you.'

'Thanks, dad. Yeah, we'll take her with us. Too bad you can't join us, Uncle Marty. I know you have to work tonight.' Brad, you moron.. you can't say that to him. But he already finds out as Uncle Marty gives him a death glare.

'Well, we should go, Tim, we don't want to be late. Have fun guys!'

'We will! Bye!' We wave them goodbye and then head to my room, to avoid Uncle Marty as much as possible and to get ready.

We don't talk much, which is a mistake as Mark notices.

'So, what's going on?'

'What do you mean?' I try to feign innocence.

'You know what I'm talking about. Don't think I didn't notice the looks between you, Brad and Uncle Marty.' Brad and I exchange looks.

'Uh, Gracie, why don't you go and play with my computer for a minute, okay?' Gratefully, she knows what I really mean and she goes to my desk right away, while the three of us go inside the small bathroom dad built.

I carefully take off my sweater and Mark gasps loudly as he sees my arm and the band-aid on my neck.

'What happened to you?' I look down and sigh before I answer.

'Uncle Marty.'

'What? He did this? So Brad was right...' I look confused.

'What do you mean? You two discussed this before?'

'We were concerned about you. After the day we saw those bruises, we wanted to know what was going on. Brad thought it had something to do with Uncle Marty and I didn't believe him. But after we heard you yelling at Uncle Marty to leave Gracie alone, I started to doubt myself. So it was him all along?'

'Yeah.' I answer softly, while I carefully put my sweater back on, wincing as my arm still hurts. I know it's stupid of me, I should have known it would hurt, but I guess pretending I'm not in pain has become easier for me.

'But why? Why is he hurting you?'

'That doesn't matter. I already told Brad I'll tell you guys everything tonight, after everyone falls asleep. The important thing is, that you have to promise not to say or do anything about this, ok?'

'What? No, I can't do that. I'm not just going to stand around and let him...' Brad grabs his shirt.

'You have to. Uncle Marty already threatened me that he'll.. well, I promised I wouldn't say or do anything. The only reason we're telling you this, is because Uncle Marty figures you already know. But you can't tell anyone. You have to promise, Mark.'

'But..'

'Promise, Mark! Randy's life is at stake here...'

'You mean Uncle Marty threatened to..' Once again I look down as his eyes widen at the realization.

'Oh my god.. I can't believe this is happening. Who would've ever thought Uncle Marty would be capable of something like this.'

'Losing a child does strange things to people.'

'Randy, just because he lost a child, doesn't give him the right to do this. You can't honestly tell me you think that justifies his actions!'

'I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying it's possible he's acting this way, because he's in a lot of pain. Let's just drop it, it doesn't matter. You haven't given us an answer yet. Do you promise not to say or do anything about this, Mark?' He looks at Brad and me and seems to struggle with the decision.

'Mark, I know this is difficult, but you really don't have a choice. Brad already promised to do it, now it's your turn.'

'Why did you have to tell me anyway? If you hadn't, I wouldn't have to promise not to do anything while my uncle is beating the shit out of my brother.'

'I know and I'm sorry. I just figure it'll be easier if both of you know now that Uncle Marty already thinks you do and I won't have to keep anymore secrets from you guys. We are sharing a bedroom. You have no idea how hard it's been, trying to hide the bruises from you. This just makes things so much easier. So please, Mark.. Do you promise?' He sighs deeply once more.

'I guess I really don't have a choice..'

'Thanks, little bro. It means a lot. Now let's go see that movie!'

'Which one were we going to see again?'

'We haven't decided yet.'

'Oh, right. What movies are playing right now?'

'No idea.' We laugh as we realize our conversation isn't going anywhere. But our laughter soon dies as we realize Gracie isn't alone in the room anymore.

'Guess what? I just got a call from my boss. It seems I have the night off. How great is that?' We all stop dead in our tracks as we see Gracie standing by him, looking scared as ever, trying hard not to cry.

'Oh, don't worry. I'm not coming to the movies with you. I wanted to work around the house a little. Just do some chores, to give back a little to your parents for letting me stay here. And I was thinking of letting Gracie stay with me. That way, I can spend some time with her and you'll have more choice in what movie you want to go see. I think it'll be so much fun.' He sneers and looks at me as he says it.

'You know what, that's ok. I'll stay here. Gracie was looking forward to seeing that movie and I don't really feel like going anyway.' I look at Brad with wide eyes.

'No, why don't I stay. You guys go have fun.' I'm confused to notice both my brothers volunteering to stay instead of Gracie. But I know that's not what Uncle Marty wants.

'No, I'd much rather spend time with Gracie. But.. if you really want to make a trade. How about you, Randy? We just haven't had the time to really get to know each other.' He says the last part in such a cold voice, it creates shivers down my spine. Brad and Mark look worried.

'Well, neither have we, one of us could stay.'

'You could, but since Randy and Gracie have gotten so close lately, I'd like to get to know him a little better. What do you say, Randy?' I give them a sad, but pleading look before I answer.

'I'll stay...' I almost whisper it, but it's loud enough for them to hear it.

'No, Randy.. please, just let one of us stay.'

'Nope, sorry. He already agreed. We'll have so much fun, won't we, Randy?' He says it in a menacing way and I wince as he puts his arm around me, landing on my left arm.

'Now, you should really go, you don't want to be late, do you? And we have so much to do. Go on.' Brad grabs Gracie and they unwillingly go upstairs, giving me another worried look. I give them a small smile, to let them know I'll be ok. I sigh and try to keep myself from shaking as I hear the front door closing.

'Yeah, we'll have so much fun.' I shudder at the evil tone in his voice. We head upstairs, where he orders me to sit at the table. Now I'm not able to stop my body from shaking as he comes out of the garage with the rope and a very sharp knife...

--

**A/N **Sorry for taking so long to update. I was having trouble getting started with this story again. Hopefully you'll like it :)

Please R&R if you want to know what happens to Randy! Thanks!

Love, Baxxie


	16. Chapter 15 Rushing And Fear

Chapter 15 Rushing And Fear

_Recap..._

Brad grabs Gracie and they unwillingly go upstairs, giving me another worried look. I give them a small smile, to let them know I'll be ok. I sigh and try to keep myself from shaking as I hear the front door closing.

'Yeah, we'll have so much fun.' I shudder at the evil tone in his voice. We head upstairs, where he orders me to sit at the table. Now I'm not able to stop my body from shaking as he comes out of the garage with the rope and a very sharp knife...

Randy

I'm trying not to think about what's going to happen as I lie here, tied to the bed once again, in just my underwear. I have no choice if I want to stop myself from losing it. I just have to let it happen and pretend it isn't.

Uncle Marty has been in the bathroom for at least five minutes, since he tied me up. What is keeping him? I just want to get this over with...

I mean, I could always hope that the others will be back soon, but I can't do that, they wouldn't be able to stop him and I don't want them to see it happening either... Oh god, please just get in here and o whatever you want to do... I can't take.. Oh god, here he comes..

'Good, I see you haven't tried to get loose. I've taught you well.' He smiles evilly as I resist the urge to say something. 'And no backtalk? Wow, I'm surprised. Well, not entirely.' He laughs and turns his back to me as I roll my eyes. 'So, you ready for some fun?' My eyes grow wide as he holds the knife in his hand. I can't help, but try to move out of the way as he starts to bring the knife down. I close my eyes and wait for the pain, until I hear him laughing. I open my eyes and see he's put the knife down. I release the breath I didn't know I was holding. 'Haha, I really had you going there, huh? Yeah, not yet, kid. I'm going to get some more towels and bandages first. We're going to need them. Don't go too far now!' he walks out of the room laughing. I gulp as I think about his words. This is not good...

After a few minutes he comes back again with his arms full of towels and bandages. He puts the towels around me and then grabs the knife again. 'Now, this time, I'm not kidding. I think it's time for some new scars, don't you think? I can feel my body start to tremble as he brings the knife down to my arm and starts to make small vertical cuts, making me flinch with each one. 'Oh, stop moving. It's going to take a lot longer if you do.'

After about half an hour I've got cuts all over my body, except of course my face and my neck, since that would be too visible. I've started to feel light-headed from the blood loss. But I'm not going to pass out. Oh no, I'm not letting him have the satisfaction.

I notice he's stopped cutting and so I open my eyes and try to focus on him, as the room keeps spinning. He smiles at me as he wipes the blood off with a towel.

'There. Now that wasn't so bad, was it? Oh, don't worry. It's far from over. I just stopped, cause I really need a drink.' he takes out a large Vodka bottle off the floor and starts to drink from it. After he takes a few gulps, he stops and holds it out to me. 'Want some?' I look away as the smell of the alcohol makes me even more dizzy. 'Ok, your loss. You know, if you really don't want a drink, I think it's about time I make sure you can't make any noise.' I feel confused, until he takes out a scarf and gags me, so I can hardly make any noise.

I hardly have time to register what's going on before he takes the Vodka bottle and tips it just enough for one drop of alcohol to land onto my arm. I cry out in pain as I feel my wounds burn.

For the next twenty minutes he keeps dripping alcohol on my wounds. I stopped screaming after about ten minutes, since that's when the tears started and my throat started to hurt too much. It's becoming very difficult to keep from passing out, but I know that I'm already missing a lot of minutes in my memory and even though the pain is already unbearable, I fight hard to stay awake. No, wait, I know I'm missing minutes, since all my wounds have bandages on them.

'You know, I can't believe I actually wasted half a bottle of Vodka on you. But I must admit, it was so much fun!' he laughs again and takes a swig from the bottle before setting it down. I follow his arm, which is heading towards the knife again. Oh god, not again... Please anyone, come home...

'And now for the final, but best part. I will make sure that whatever happens, if you even survive, you will never forget about me.' Like I would be able to forget anyway... 'You know, I'll give you a minute and I'll turn on some music. Because believe me, your throat might be sore already. But it won't keep you from screaming, I promise you that.' Okay, I know it sounds weird, but now I'm becoming worried...

After a few minutes I hear Marilyn Manson booming through the stereo. Must have borrowed Mark's cd. Uncle Marty comes back into the room, sits next to the bed and takes another swig from the bottle of Vodka.

'So, are you ready?' He wipes his hands and puts on gloves? What the hell? he grabs the knife again. 'Now this is going to sting a little.' He brings the knife down to my stomach and before I know what's happening, he starts to carve a vertical stripe into my skin. I scream out in agony, while tears run down my face. I try to get away from the knife, but that just hurts even more...

I don't pray a lot, but I'm praying now, please, anyone, come and... Uncle Marty and I both hear Brad's voice as he comes in through the front door. I've never been so happy to hear his voice. Uncle Marty turns down the music and goes downstairs. I don't get it, why won't he just let me go?

After a minute or so he's back in the room and I fear for my life that he's going to finish what he started.

'Well, guess what, buddy? You're in luck. Your brothers are back and when they were driving home, they ran into your parents. Which means we're going to have to cut this short.' he laughs. 'Get it? Cut it short? Oh, I crack myself up. Anyway, I feel kinda bad. Now I can't complete my work. And I was looking forward to writing MINE on your stomach. Oh, well, better save it for some other time, huh?'

He takes off the scarf and I glare at him, but don't say a word. He bandages my stomach and unties me from the bed. He helps me roughly to pull my clothes back on. Of course he's rough, he just loves to watch me flinch with every touch. Next he takes the blood soaked towels and puts them in a bag and almost pushes me out onto the hallway. Then he closes the door with a slam.

I stand in the hallway for a good minute, before I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. I'm still processing what happened and trying not to think about the pain. It's working, until I nearly jump out of my skin as a voice sounds in my ear.

'hey. Are you alright? Randy?' I try to look up, but the room starts to spin and my vision is becoming blurry. the voice next to me is falling into the background and it's becoming harder to understand the words. 'Randy? Can you hear me? It's me, Brad.. What did he do to you? Randy?' The words echo in my head and before I know it, I'm seeing spots and it gets darker, until I can't see. But thankfully the pain is gone now...

Brad

I barely have time to react as I watch my younger brother fall to the ground. I catch him just in time. he flinches immediately as I touch him, but I pick him up and rush downstairs, as far away from that bastard as possible.

As I get downstairs I'm met by Mark, whose eyes go wide in shock as he sees Randy in my arms.

'Don't ask, just open the basement door. We have to get him downstairs, before mom and dad get here.' He quickly opens the basement door and I carefully rush hurry downstairs. I carefully place him on his bed.

'Mark? Get a glass of water. He'll need it when he wakes up. Oh and get him his painkillers.'

'But his knee is fine.'

'Yeah, his knee might be. But I have a feeling he's going to need them.' Then I notice his shirt is becoming red. Blood... Oh no.. I carefully open his shirt and gasp as I see the bandages and the hints off all his wounds. As I try to see where his wounds are, I hear another gasp behind me.

'What the hell did he do to him?'

'I don't know... I.. Goddamnit... Mark, I don't know if I can deal with this. He can't really expect me to just stand back and watch Uncle Marty do this and more importantly, get away with it? I can't do that... I just can't!' I sit down and put my head in my hands as I hear a moan coming from Randy. We both look over as he starts to open his eyes.

'Hey...' He croaks.

'hey.' he starts to cough and then flinches and coughs some more. Mark hurries to his side and hands me the glass of water. I carefully grab him and hold him up. 'Here, drink this.' he sips the water and I let him back down.

'Thanks.' I can tell he doesn't want to look at either of us, when he turns his head away from us.

'Randy...'

'Don't.'

'But..'

'Just don't. Please. I'm fine.' I look at Mark and see he's as worried as I am.

'Ok. Uhm, you're going to need new bandages.' I softly let him know. He still doesn't look at us. But as I slowly get up, I know he's crying and I feel horrible that I can't do anything. I know he needs to be alone. 'Just uhm, let us know when you need us, alright? Your painkillers are on your nightstand, with the glass of water. We'll tell mom and dad you're sick. Randy? I'm sorry...' I barely whisper the last part as I try not to get choked up. I head up the stairs and practically drag Mark with me.

**--**

A/N hi there! Sorry for the delay. I've been having so many ideas for my Costa Rica story, I kind of neglected this one. But here's another chapter and I hope you like it :)

Please R&R and thanks for reading it so far! Love, Baxxie  



	17. Chapter 16 Healing and Silence

Chapter 16 Healing And Silence

Brad

Mom and dad came home about an hour ago and Mark and I announce we're going to bed. Well, to do some homework first. I wish we could take Gracie with us from now on, but we can't let mom and dad become suspicious. Mom is going to tuck her in tonight.

We told them Randy wasn't feeling well and it took a lot of lying to keep them from going to check on him. Thankfully, they bought it. But I can tell they know something's up. I'm hoping they keep their worries to themselves.

Uncle Marty disappeared somewhere before mom and dad got here. I'm glad he did. But I swear, it'll take a lot of effort to keep myself from beating him up next time I see him. That probably goes for Mark as well.

Now we're heading downstairs after saying goodnight to mom and dad and Gracie. The room seems really quiet. Mark managed to sneak in lot of bandages and a First Aid-kit. I'm not sure though whether he'll let us help him replace them.

I am definitely read to hear the full story about what's happening from Randy. We really need to talk, because I don't know how much more I can take...

But as we open the door to our bedroom, we know talking isn't going to happen tonight. Randy is sound asleep on his bed. I sigh as I look at Mark. Then I walk over to Randy and pull the covers up to his chin. I shake my head at him as he scrunches his face in pain.

'Well, we better do some homework then. But tomorrow, we're going to have that talk. I'm making sure of it.' Mark nods as I head over to my computer and he sits on his bed and starts to read a book. 'I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday. I don't know how we'd have come up with more excuses to hide all of these secrets.'

'Actually, this is even worse.'

'How?'

'Mom doesn't have to work on Saturday. Which means, we do have to come up with more excuses. Only now it's about why Randy isn't coming upstairs. How are we suppose to stop her two days? And dad as well.'

'I don't know. But we need to come up with something. I guess I'm just glad we don't have school tomorrow. That would make it more complicated. But you're right, this might be worse. We'll need to thing of something tomorrow. We'll talk to Randy and figure this out. It'll be ok. Now let's just do some homework. It'll keep our minds off of this for a while.' He nods again as we start on our homework.

We head straight to bed when we're done. I'm not sure either of us really slept though. I kept thinking about Randy. I could tell he was having a nightmare with all the tossing and turning he was doing. Of course that made him moan from pain in the process.

Finally I forced myself to go to sleep, since tomorrow I'd need to be sharp and alert. But at about three am, I wake up again. This time because I can hear someone getting up and going to the bathroom. Or at least, trying to get up. I turn on my night-light and get up myself as I see Randy struggling to stand on his feet.

I walk over to him and grab him by his right arm. He looks up in surprise.

'Come on. Just lean on me.'

'You don't have to help me, I'm ok.'

'We've had this conversation before, so let's not start this again.' He looks down in defeat and leans on me for support as we walk toward the bathroom. As I let him go, I can tell my hands are wet. When I look closer, my eyes widen as I notice the blood on them. I wait for Randy to finish and then immediately grab the bandages.

'Randy, you need to redress your wounds.' he looks at me in confusion, until he sees the blood that's seeped through the old bandages. I notice his hands start to shake as he does. I grab hold of his hands to keep him steady and sit him down in a chair. 'It's ok. You're probably a little dizzy because of the blood loss. We really need to redress your wounds and get you clean clothes and sheets, probably.' He nods weakly and then gets up with my help. 'I'll help you, alright?' I can see the embarrassment in his eyes. 'Look, if it were me, you'd do the same. You're not weak. Right now, you just really need the help, you know you do. You're hurt. But if it makes you feel better, I won't tell anyone?' I smile at him and he gives me a small smile back.

'That's ok. Uhm, Brad?'

'Yeah?'

'Thanks.'

'Hey, we're brothers. It's what I'm here for. Now just go into the bathroom and take off our clothes. Here are fresh bandages. If you can't do it alone, just come out here and I'll help you, ok?'

'Ok.' He says in a small voice.

I change his sheets and help him renew the bandages and into new clothes. He's still embarrassed, but I can tell he's also thankful. When he finally pulls the cover up to his chin with effort, I get back into my own bed.

'Brad? You shouldn't feel sorry about anything.'

'Huh?'

'I heard you say you were sorry. But you shouldn't be. None of this is your fault. You didn't have a choice.'

'Look, we're going to talk about this tomorrow, alright? And you're going to tell us everything. Let's just get some sleep right now.'

'Yeah, ok. Goodnight, Brad.'

'Goodnight, Randy.'

'Goodnight, Mark.' He adds and I look up in confusion, until I hear a guilty voice reply.

'Uhm, goodnight...' I smirk and shake my head at our younger brother and finally turn off the light.

As mark and I wake up again and get ready to have breakfast, we notice Randy's bed is already empty. We look at each other in fear and quickly head upstairs. There, in complete shock and utter surprise, we find Randy sitting at the dinging table with Gracie, waiting for the small pancakes mom is preparing. We give him a questioning look and he just greets us with a big smile.

'Good morning! Sorry I didn't wait for you guys. You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to disturb you.' We join them at the table. We're both worried about Randy's ability to pretend nothing happened. It's a little too good. Makes me wonder whether it really happened. But as Randy reaches for the newspaper and the bandages on his right arm become visible, I know it did. He covers his arm up quickly and avoids my eyes.

We eat breakfast in silence, while we steal worried glances at Randy and he does his best to avoid them. Mom is becoming suspicious again.

'Is something going on here that I don't know about?'

'Huh? No, we just had a little fight yesterday that we still need to work out. Right, guys?' Mark and I agree and mom seems to buy it. At least, part of it.

After breakfast we head downstairs again and mom heads to the store with Gracie, giving us plenty of time to talk. Dad left in the meantime and Uncle Marty didn't come home last night, which we're all glad about. Dad said he won't be back until Monday. Randy told us that. So now we know why he was so happy this morning.

We all get dressed and hea back upstairs. Randy is last to finish. As he enters the living room, we're already waiting on the couch. He carefully comes over and winces a couple of times. He goes to sit with a lot of effort. I get up and want to help.

'No, I'm ok. I got it.' I sit back down and Mark and I wait for Randy to start talking. He takes a deep breath, before opening his mouth to speak. 'Alright. I guess I better explain some more, so you'll know how this happened. It started the first time Uncle Marty came here with Aunt Nancy...'

Mark and I just sit there stunned as Randy tells us how he volunteered to let Uncle Marty beat him up, in exchange for Gracie's safety. When he's done, the room is silent. We're speechless and it's making him nervous.

'Guys? Uhm, could you just say something? Guys?'

'You volunteered for this? Are you out of your fucking mind!' I completely loose my cool, which I didn't intend to do, but..well..

'What was I supposed to do? Just let him hurt Gracie?' We're both up now, faces red as we fight over the situation.

'No, you should have told someone.'

'Oh, yeah, that would have worked. If that was so simple, why haven't you told anyone yet?' He got me there.. 'Exactly. I couldn't tell anyone, Brad. I didn't have a choice. I had to do something to stop him from hurting her. I know it was stupid, but at least she's ok.' I look at the ground and sigh deeply before sitting down again.

'I just can't believe all of this is really going on. Who would've thought Uncle Marty would be capable of something like this?'

'I sure as hell didn't. I always liked him and I thought he was a good parent, but now... It's so weird how he's able to change so quickly when mom and dad walk in.'

'Well, so do you.' Mark reminds Randy.

'Don't compare me with him. I pretend everything is fine so they won't worry. I don't turn evil the minute they walk out the door.'

'I know, that's not what I meant.. I,.. forget it.'

'The question right now is: what are we going to do? I mean, there has to be something we can do to stop him.'

'I don't know. I wish there was something, but I've been going over this in my head over and over again and nothing. The only way we could is if we told mom and dad without him finding out. But I'm not sure how.. I mean, last time I tried to tell them, dad completely blew up. He didn't believe me and mom, well, she hasn't said anything. I don't think she believed it either.'

'Mom would be a lot easier than dad, I agree. Maybe we should try talking to her when she gets back from the store. Randy, do you think you'd be able to handle that? Randy?' I look over to him and am shocked to see his face completely pale, his eyes closed. I get up and crouch down in front of him. 'Randy? Can you hear me? Randy?' He opens his eyes slightly, but closes them again. 'Randy, what's wrong?'

'J-Just so d-dizzy... room's s-spinning..' Mark looks at me full worry.

'mark, help me get him on the couch. He should lie down.' I pull him up by his good arm, while Mark carefully grabs hold of his left side. He sits down on the couch and I pull up his legs to get him to lie down. 'Get a glass of water, with two more painkillers.'

'Brad.. you don't have to...'

'Stop talking, just take it easy. This is the least we can do to help you, so just let us do this, ok?' He opens his eyes slightly when Mark gives me the glass with the pills. I help him sit up just enough to drink the water and swallow the pills. Then he lies back down and closes his eyes once again.

'Guys? I'm home, I... what happened?' Mom bursts through the garage door and immediately drops everything as she sees Randy lying on the couch, pale as a sheet.

Mark throws me a look and I nod to him. 'Uhm, mom, could we talk to you about something?'

'Uh, sure.' She hesitantly comes over to us.

'Maybe you should sit down.'

'Right. Ok.' She hesitantly sits down. 'Guys, just tell me what's going on here, you're scaring me.'

'Ok, uhm, you may have noticed Randy acting a little different over the last couple of weeks.'

'Yeah, I did actually. Do you know something?'

'We only found out yesterday. Randy is...' I stop talking as the front door opens and Uncle Marty steps in. Mark and I look up in fear.

'Randy is what? Brad? Randy is what?' Mom asks me as I still look at Uncle Marty. I know he's testing me with his look.

'Uh, he's uh, he's sick. Yeah, he's not feeling well at all.'

'He hasn't been feeling well for the last couple of weeks? That's why he's been acting so strange? That's what you guys have been trying to hide from us?' We both nod. 'I'm not buying it.' She gets up and heads for the kitchen.

'But it's true, mom. What are you doing?' Mark gives me worried glance as the thermometer in her hand becomes visible.

'If he's sick, he probably has a fever.'

'Well, uh, we already checked.' mark saves.

'Yeah, it wasn't that high. Right now he's just feeling tired and a little dizzy.' I agree as Uncle Marty follows our every move with a curious glance.

Mom still looks suspicious, but we smile at her and try to look as sincere as possible. She tries to read our eyes, before going back into the kitchen and putting the thermometer away. We breath a sigh of relief and watch as she walks up to Randy and crouches i front of him.

'Honey? Randy? It's mom.' She runs a hand through his hair and he slightly opens his eyes.

'Mom?' he croaks.

'Yeah. How are you feeling? Brad and Mark told me you're not feeling well.'

'Yeah, I'm feeling dizzy. The room keeps spinning, but I'm starting to feel better already.'

'Ok. Well, I'm right here if you need anything, ok?' He nods and she kisses his forehead. She grabs a blanket and covers him with it. 'You get some rest.' She gets up, while he closes his eyes again.

I look up towards the front door and realize Uncle Marty. I sigh as I know we may have saved it this time. But he knows what we were trying to do. I just hope he leaves it there...

**--**

A/N Hi there! Thanks for the reviews and for reading my stories :) Here's another chapter. Not a lot has happened, but I'm nearing the end. Just one question for you: how many more chapters would you like to read?

Please R&R if you want more. That way us writers will know the writing is appreciated. If there's anything you don't like, you can say that, too. Just speak your mind, that's the meaning of freedom of speech!

Thanks and Love, Baxxie


	18. Chapter 17 Beginning Of The End

Chapter 17 Beginning Of The End...

Jill

It's Monday and I've finally got the house to myself since a while. The boys went to school early this morning without saying a word.

They've been really close lately for some reason. I'd love to believe there isn't a reason, but I'm their mother. I know them too well for that. They've been acting very strange. I'm convinced they're hiding something. And somehow I have a feeling it's got something to do with Randy being "sick".

Brad and Mark have been very protective of him and they've all been protective of Gracie. I've tried talking to Tim about it, but he won't listen. Something is going on and I'm becoming concerned about it.

Especially after what happened Saturday. Anyone could have seen Brad and Mark were lying about Randy being sick and the way Marty was watching them, didn't seem normal either.

I know Marty has to work today, so I'm going to try and get the boys alone and have a word with them. They were about to tell me what was going on and I'm going to make sure that Marty doesn't stop us this time. I really hope it's not what I think it is. I'll never forgive myself if it is and I didn't do anything about it.

Ok, I need to stop thinking about this. I'm home alone and until the boys come out of school, I need to keep myself busy. I better start cleaning the house.

_Two hours later..._

Well, that just leaves the laundry. I grab the laundry basket from our room and open the washing machine, when I notice it's not empty. I raise my eyebrows at the bed sheets I pull out and gasp as I look at them.

'Oh my god...' I drop the laundry basket in surprise as I see the once white bed sheets that belong to Randy, now crimson red with what I'm hoping is ketchup. But as I smell them, my eyes nearly tear up as I recognize the smell of blood...

After a few moments of watching the sheets and panic and worry and all other emotions setting in, I rush to the kitchen and want to pick up the phone when it starts to ring on its own. Panic sets in again and I hope I'm not being called by the hospital...

I pick up and gulp before answering.

'hello?' My voice wavers.

'_Jill?_' Oh thank god...

'Oh, Marcy, hi.'

'_Hi, are you okay?_'

'Uh, yeah. Why are you calling?'

'_Oh, right. Well, John called in sick about an hour ago. I'm really sorry, I know this is your day off, but we've called everyone else and they're not available, so I need you to come in today._'

'Marcy, I'd love to help out, but now is not a good time.'

'_I'm sorry Jill, but you don't really have a choice. Dr. Mason wants you to come in. You know he won't take no for an answer._'

No... what am I going to do.. I need to talk to the boys today...

'I'm sorry Marcy, but I really can't.'

'_It's not a full shift. You only have to come in for a couple of hours. Please, Jill? He's already in a bad mood today. I'd hate to upset him even more._'

'Just a few hours?'

'_Yes, only a couple of hours._'

I guess I could call Tim and ask him to pick up the boys from school, he could talk to them first and maybe make sure Marty doesn't get near them. Not until we get to the bottom of this. I sigh heavily before deciding.

'Alright.'

'_Thanks, Jill, I owe you. See you in half an hour!'_

'Ok, bye, Marcy.'

I hang up the phone and immediately pick up the horn again and dial a familiar number. I wait for someone to pick up and emotions resurface.

_'Hello, this is Binford Tools, Heidi speaking. How can..._'

'Hello? Heidi? It's Jill, I need to talk to Tim. It's urgent. Thanks.' I don't wait for her answer and by the time I finally hear Tim's voice, I'm losing control fast.

'_Hi honey._'

'Tim... What time can you be home today?'

'_Everything is going great today, so I might be done at around four, why?_'

'Could you get home sooner than that?'

_'I don't know. Jill, what's going on?' _I have to try hard to not cry, but my voice cracks anyway.

'You need to pick up the boys today. I have to go to work for a couple of hours and I don't want them to be alone. We need to talk to them. I know something is wrong and I think I finally got the evidence. I'm not sure yet, but we really need to talk to them, without Marty being present, I told you something wasn't right, I told you...'

'_Jill, slow down. What happened?_'

'I was doing the laundry and I found Randy's sheets in the washing machine.'

_'And..'_

'They were covered in blood...' Silence. 'Tim?'

_'Are you sure it was blood?'_

'Yes, I'm sure.. I knew something was wrong. They've been acting so strange lately, especially Randy...'

'_Honey, calm down. I'm sure there's a rational explanation for this._'

'Like what? There was so much blood, Tim... I think he's hurt...'

'_Jill, listen. Before you jump to conclusions, let's just talk to them, alright? I'll see if I can go home early today and I'll swing by their schools and pick them up. I'll wait for you and we'll have a family talk, ok?'_

'Without Marty.'

_'Uh, right..'_

'Tim, without Marty.'

_'Ok, ok. We'll have a family meeting without Marty.'_

'Thanks, Tim. Oh, I have to go, I have to go to work. I love you.'

_'Love you too_, _Jill. Bye.'_ I breathe a sigh of relief, but it comes pared with concern.

I try not to think about it, but somewhere inside of me, I can't help but think something is going to happen...

Randy

Today hasn't been too bad. I was able to keep my mind off the pain and no one has seemed to notice something isn't right.

Thankfully, I'm done early today, so now I'm on my way to Gracie's school to help out a little and walk her home. It's become somewhat of a tradition lately. The other kids know me now as well, which is fun.

As I step inside, I walk straight towards Gracie's classroom. I knock on the door and Ms. Johnson opens the door and steps out onto the hallway.

'Hi Randy. What are you doing here?' I raise my eyebrows at her question.

'Hi, I came to help out and pick Gracie up afterwards, like always.'

'But Gracie isn't here.'

'What are you talking about? I dropped her off myself this morning.'

'Well, yeah, but her dad came and picked her up. Some kind of family emergency.' My heart nearly jumps out of my chest and I can't think straight. I start to run without looking back, not even hearing Ms. Johnson calling my name.

I run like crazy towards our house without stopping. My lungs feel like they're on fire, but I don't have time to do anything about it. Uncle Marty has Gracie.. alone with him... he's going to hurt her...I have to stop him...

As I finally see the house, I open the door immediately and rush in.

'Gracie?' I yell through the house, not caring whether he hears me or not. I breathe heavily as my lungs try to suck in oxygen. I pant as I walk further into the house. 'Gracie? Are you here?' Oh god, there's no answer... that could mean a lot of things and I can't think of any good reasons... 'Gracie, can you hear..'

I stop mid sentence as the front door closes behind me. I turn around and freeze as I see Uncle Marty standing in front of the door, holding a baseball bat...

**--**

A/N Hi there! As the title says, this is the beginning of the end. Only a few more chapters to go and hopefully enough people will R&R so I know enough people are interested in any of my stories :)

Thanks for reading and hopefully you're still enjoying this story. Sorry for the short chapter and again a cliffhanger, but this time, it's not going to end so fast ;)

Thanks again and Love, Baxxie

__


	19. Chapter 18 Help!

Chapter 18 Help!

Randy

I step backwards slowly as Uncle Marty comes up to me with the bat.

'What's going on? Where's Gracie?'

'You know, I've been thinking a lot lately about what's going on and guess what? I'm tired of all these secrets, Randy. Aren't you?' That doesn't sound good.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, I think it's time we put a stop to this.'

'Y-you want to tell everyone what's going on and get help?' Please, please, please... But the smile appearing on his face makes me loose all hope.

'No. I want to get rid of the evidence.' I gulp as he says it.

'Get r-rid of the e-evidence? W-What do you mean?' I laugh nervously as I always do in the worst situations. We keep walking and I'm slowly starting to divert towards the living room. I move my hands towards the side table against the couch and make sure he doesn't see. I roam around, until my hands reach the object I'm looking for.

'Oh come on, kid. You're supposed to be the smartest in our entire family. I mean you.' He comes closer and starts to raise the bat. But I quickly bring up my hands and I hit him in the head as hard as I can with mom's round vase. It knocks him out and he drops to the floor. It's temporary and I know he'll be getting up soon, so I hurry up the stairs and look for Gracie.

I finally find her in Uncle Marty's room. She shaking like a leaf, but her eyes look hopeful as she sees me.

'Randy! You're okay!' I immediately put my finger to her lips.

'Shh, you can't make a sound right now, alright?' I whisper to her.

'He told me he was going to hurt you and after that, he'd come back for me.' She starts to cry and I pull her into my arms.

'It's okay.. I know, I know, shhh... Look, I need you do me a very small favor.' She looks at me, still sniffling. 'I need you to hide in Brad's closet and lock the door and not make a sound. Can you do that for me?' She nods.

'Will you come with me?'

'I can't, sweetie. But I promise nothing bad is going to happen to you.'

'But what about you? I don't want you to get hurt.' I run my hand through her hair.

'Everything is going to be fine, ok? Please, just go into Brad's room and lock yourself in the closet. Don't open the door, no matter what happens, Ok?' She nods again. I kiss her on the forehead and hug her again, before she runs off towards Brad's room.

I take a deep breath and start to look for a weapon, before heading back downstairs. I walk down the stairs with caution and try not to make a sound, looking around carefully. When I can finally see the living room, my heart starts thumping louder as I notice, the living room is empty...

With shaking hands, I go downstairs and look everywhere, to make sure he doesn't sneak up on me.

I nearly jump sky high when the phone rings. I try to decide what to do. On one hand, I want to pick up, because the person might help me. But on the other hand, he'll find out...

In the end, I finally walk over to mom's desk and grab the cordless phone and pick it up carefully.

'Hello?' I can hear the trembling in my own voice as I wait for the other person to answer.

'_Randy?' _I almost start to cry as I hear dad on the other end.

'Dad!'

'_Randy, I was at your school to pick you up, but you weren't there. Why are you home so soon?'_

'I.. I got off early and I decided to go home..' I keep looking around the room and I know I have to do something. 'Dad.. where are you? Are you almost here?'

_'Well, I'm still at your school right now. Why?'_

'I just really need you to come home...'

_'What's going on? You sound scared.'_

'Just please come home...' I plead with him in a desperate voice.

'_Randy, is this about those sheets your mother found? The ones with the blood on them? She told me to come pick you up and that she wanted to talk about it. She's worried that something might be going on. Is there?'_

'Nothing is going on...'

_'Randy, just tell me. You know you can tell me everything.' _Not everything, dad... _'Randy?'_

'No, everything is fine..'

'_Randy, please. What is going on?' _he sounds so worried that I can't stop the next words that come out of my mouth.

'he's going to kill me...' I say in a small whispering voice, since it's all I can muster, with tears starting to fall. It stays still on the other end.

'_What? What are you talking about? You know that's not funny, Randy. Don't joke about things like that!'_

'I'm not.. Please come home, he's going to kill me and then he's going after Gracie.. You have to do something, please..'

'_Randy, just stop.. who are you talking about? Who's going to kill you? Is there someone in the house?'_

'It's Uncle Marty.. He's the reason for those bloodstained sheets.. He's been hurting me, dad.. And now, he's going to kill me..'

'_No, I don't believe you.. he would never hurt a fly.'_

'But it's true.. Please, you have to help me... I knocked him out, but he's not here anymore. I don't know where he is, but he has a baseball bat and he wants to kill me. He told me so..'

'_Randy, I..'_

'Please, you have to believe me! I'm not lying...' I tell him as I sob.

'_Look, just calm down, ok? I'm coming home, alright? And we'll talk about this.'_

'But, I...'

General POV

A loud thud is heard and then silence. Tim looks at the phone with worry.

'Randy? Are you still there? Randy?'

'_Hello, Tim.' _Tim feels chills all over his body as he hears the menacing tone of his own brother.

'Marty? What's going on? Where's Randy?'

_'Randy can't come to the phone right now. He's a little preoccupied.' _

Tim becomes worried as he knows something isn't right.

'Marty, what is going on? Did you something to him? Because I swear, if you did..'

_'Oh, I'm sorry Tim. I really have to go now. Say goodbye to your son.' _Tim feels all color leaving his face as he hears the click on the other end of the line.

Marty looks down at the ground with a smile at the form of his nephew, with a growing blood pool coming from under his head, and the bloodstained baseball bat still in one hand...  
_  
__**--**_

**A/N **Hi there! Sorry for not updating for a few days and not reviewing. I'll get to that in a minute, I've been busy with moving and I don't have a full Internet connection yet, so I'm not always able to log on here.

I hope you like this chapter, but I will say, it will be a few days before you'll get another chapter, since I'm still busy.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews and if you like this story and this chapter, please let me know!

Thanks and Love, Baxxie


	20. Chapter 19 Race Against The Clock

Chapter 19 Race Against Time

General POV

Tim is sitting in the car, stunned at what just happened. He tries to comprehend. His own brother... How could he have been so stupid! Randy warned him about it and so did Jill. But he wouldn't believe them. He chose to believe his brother and now..

He realizes feeling guilty isn't helping. He pulls himself together and starts the car. he's about to hit the gas pedal, when he sees his other two sons walking towards the car from the rear view mirror. They look at the car confused and Tim rolls down the window.

'Get in the car.'

'Dad? What are you doing here?' Brad asks him.

'Not now. Just get in the car.' They share a look. 'Hurry up!'

In hearing the seriousness in their dad's voice they hurry into the car. Mark has hardly closed the door, before Tim speeds off.

'Dad, what's going on?' Brad asks with concern in his voice.

'How long have you known?' he asks without looking at them.

'Known what?'

'About your Uncle Marty and Randy.'

'We don't know what you..'

'Cut the bullshit! I know what's going on. I just called home and Randy picked up. He sounded scared. He eventually told me he's home and my brother is going to kill him with a baseball bat. I didn't believe him, until your Uncle came on the phone.. He.. You know what? It doesn't matter what he said. I know, you know and right now we're going to do something about it.' Their eyes widen.

'He's going to kill him?' Mark asks with fear in his voice.

'Have you called the police?'

'No, I haven't. You can call them, Brad. Send them to the house immediately. Mark, use your cellphone to call your mother. Don't worry her too much, just tell her to come home.' They know he's going too fast, but nobody cares. Right now, only Randy's safety is on their minds...

_Meanwhile at the Taylor house..._

Randy

I groan as I wake up. My head is throbbing.. I sit up slowly and try to clear my vision.

'What happened...' I say to myself, not expecting a response.

'Well, look who's awake.' My eyes widen at the sound of his voice. I look up and see Uncle Marty smirking at me and holding a bloody baseball bat. 'What? You're surprised to see me? I'm hurt.' My heart start beating like crazy, so I try to crawl backwards. 'Where are you going? You know, it's very impolite to leave during a conversation.' He laughs, but doesn't make a move to come after me.

I take that chance to jump up and ignore the dizziness that follows. I run towards the garage, but find it locked. He laughs again.

'You don't really think I'd leave that open, did you?' I can feel fear rising inside of me as his voice is coming nearer. I rush towards the stairs, but he's already there. He grabs me and starts to pull me towards the living room. I kick backwards as hard as I can. I celebrate victory as he cries out and lets go of me to grab his shin.

I run again, but this time I've really pissed him off. He comes after me, but instead of grabbing me, he swings the bat around, until he hits my back, making me fall to the ground. I try to crawl away, but he swings the bat again. It lands on my head again. My vision starts to swim again, but I can't let him win...

Please hurry, dad.. I can't go on much longer..

Tim

_Hang on, Randy.. I'm on my way.. Just hang on!_

**--**

A/N Sorry for yet another cliffhanger, but I don't want to end it too soon.

So, help is on the way. But will they get there in time before too much damage is done? Will Randy survive? R&R to find out!

Thanks for reading and Love, Baxxie


	21. Chapter 20 Do You Really Know Him?

Chapter 20 Do You Really Know Him?

Randy

I can feel the blood trickling down my head. My whole body is shaking with fear and the loss of blood. My mind is racing.. What am I going to do? I have to stay awake..

I can hear him laughing behind me and hear the swing of the bat. I quickly turn on my back, biting my lip from the pain it causes me, but he misses.

'Wow, I guess you still a fight left inside you, huh? Well, not for long.' My eyes widen in fear, but I can't stop him as he pulls me to my feet by my shirt. I try to get free, but I'm feeling weaker by the minute and try to steady my vision. He pulls me high enough, so my feet no longer touch the ground.

'Do you remember all those times I swung you in the air when you were little? Well, this is the same. Only this time, I'm not going to catch you.' With all his strength he throws me across the room. I land painfully on my left arm. I can feel it snap and bite back a scream.

In the spinning of the room, I can see him coming towards me. I shakily try to get up, but he's closer than I think and he swings the bat once again and lands it on my left knee. This time, I can't stop the screaming.

I let myself sink back to the ground and lie on my stomach. I can hear him laughing in the distance, but the pain is just too much to bear for me. Somewhere in the corner of my eye, I can see him raising the bat. I know he's aiming for my head and I won't be able to stop him this time. I'm sorry everyone... This is it.. I close my eyes in anticipation and wait for the blow to come...

'Get away from him!' Oh, great, now I'm getting delusional...

'Marty.. Please, put down the bat...'

I raise my eyes upwards, but Uncle Marty is still staring at me with an alarming smile. And instead of dropping the bat, he gets a better grip and holds it in the air. Everything goes in slow motion as he brings it down full force. But again, nothing...

I look up and sigh with relief as dad has grabbed the bat from behind him and pulls it out of his hands. Then he punches him with so much force, he falls to the ground, clutching his nose in pain.

'Police, everybody freeze!' More rescue.. I can now feel tears wetting my cheeks as all my emotions come out at once.

The officers come in armed and first think dad is the bad guy, but Brad and Mark tell them what happened and they immediately arrest him.

'Tim.. You can't let them do this! I'm your brother..'

'Just take him away...' I've never heard so much sadness in his voice before.

'Dad...' I ask weakly. He immediately rushes to my side and carefully takes me in his arms.

'It's ok, Randy.. Everything is going to be ok now. It's all over, I'm here.' I can tell he's crying now. In a far distance I can hear sirens.

'You hear that? That's the ambulance.. You're going to be fine..'

'Dad? I don't think I can stay awake much longer..'

'You have to, alright, buddy? Just a few more minutes. Do it for me.. Can you do that?'

'Ok..' It all comes out in whispers now.

'I'm so sorry, Randy... I am so sorry...' I don't respond as another rush of pain washes over me.

'Oh god... Randy...' I can hear mom breaking down as she rushes through the door. 'Tim, is he ok? Please tell me he's ok..'

'He will be..' Right at that moment the paramedics rush in. Everything becomes a blur as they load me onto the gurney and put an oxygen mask on my mouth. I take one last look at my dad. he comes towards me and takes my hand. Then he leans down.

'It's ok. You did good. You can let go now..' His whisper is enough for me. I carefully nod and close my eyes as they rush me into the ambulance and towards the hospital.

Tim

I let out the breath I've been holding this entire time. Just the image of my son lying there in a pool of blood at the hands of my own brother..

I'll never be able to let go of this guilt. It's all my fault.. If I had listened to him, this would have never happened. I'm shaken out of my thoughts by a concerned looking Brad.

'Dad, they need you in the ambulance.'

'What about your mom?'

'Mom is completely hysterical, they can't get her to calm down.' In a daze I shakily walk towards the ambulance and take place besides my son once again. I take his hand in my own and the world vanishes around us.

My eyes only see him, lying still as the paramedics take care of him. They keep a cloth on his head to stop the bleeding, but it's still seeping through. The only thing I hear is the steady beep on the heart monitor.

The world comes to a complete halt when that beep turns into a long almost ear shattering sound, his heart has stopped...

**--**

A/N Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy with school and a lot of other things. I hope you'll be satisfied with this update. Only one more chapter and the epilogue..

Will he survive? R&R to find out!

Thanks for everything and Love, Baxxie  
_  
_


	22. Chapter 21 Hospital Nightmares

Chapter 21 Hospital Nightmares

Brad

All of today's events have taken a toll on Mark, mom and me. We decided it's better to calm mom down first and then head to the hospital. She completely lost it when she saw Randy. But who wouldn't, seeing their child like that?

Every time I look at Mark I know he feels the same guilt I do. I mean, we both knew what was going on and we didn't do anything. Yeah, he threatened he would kill him, but he tried to do that anyway.. We should have done something, anything. We could have prevented this. I can't believe Randy did all of this to protect Gracie.. I care about her as well, but why didn't he just tell someone, instead of trading his own life for hers?

Wait a minute... Gracie!

'Mark!' My little brother looks at me with worry at the tone of my voice.

'What? What is it?'

'Where's Gracie?' His eyes go wide at the realization. In all the rushing and stressing we went through, no one thought of Gracie.

'Oh my god.. You don't think..' I shake my head immediately.

'No, he wouldn't.. Come on, we should look for her.' I immediately go upstairs, taking two steps at a time, while Mark follows me close behind.

'Gracie?' We each yell out and try to listen for sounds. We look everywhere.

Just as we leave the last room and want to head downstairs, we hear quiet sobbing. We head towards the sound and end up in my room.

'Gracie?' I call out softly and then hear another sob coming from my closet. I open the door carefully and look on in worry as I see the terrified form of our cousin, crying her eyes out.

'I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to make a sound, I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me...' I look at Mark with sadness and concern and then carefully hold out a hand towards her.

'Gracie? It's me, Brad. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe...' She slowly lifts her head to look at me with tears rolling down her face and finally seems to recognize me.

'Brad? Where's daddy?'

'he's not here anymore. The police took him away. He's not going to hurt you anymore, I promise.'

'Where's Randy?' Mark and I share eye contact, before I look back towards Gracie. 'Is he ok?' She asks carefully.

'Uhm, he's gone to the hospital with our dad. He wasn't doing very well, but he's going to be just fine. The doctors are taking really good care of him. Actually, we were just about to go visit him. So, come on. I'm sure he would love to see you.' She still sobs, but finally crawls out of my closet and lets me take her into my arms.

I carry her downstairs and head towards the car, while Mark leads mom, who's still in shock, towards us as well.

_Meanwhile, at the hospital..._

Tim

I let myself sink onto a bench in the waiting room as my son is rushed inside, while the doctors are still performing CPR. They got him back in the ambulance, but just as they were loading the gurney out of the ambulance, they lost him again.

I'm just sitting here now, staring ahead, clothes filled with his blood.. I know people are staring at me, but I don't notice or really care. I just need to know if he's ok.

I know we might be as close as I'd like, but he means so much to me. All three of my boys do, but Randy and I have a special connection. Our personalities are the same, even though he tries to deny it as much as possible. We might not be interested in the same things, but I never felt that that was a problem between us. We could talk about anything. And now.. when he needed me the most I wasn't there. I didn't believe him when he told me what was going on... What kind of a father does that? I never felt like a bad father until today. Until that phone call that changed my life forever.

My own brother.. Who would've thought that? I thought I knew him. He's the one I got along with most. Especially because he has kids as well and then this happens. Why didn't I see the changes? I should have noticed. I'm his brother for god's sake! I can't believe how much I screwed this up.

This is all so... Damnit! I get up and hit the wall closest to me.

'Mr. Taylor?' I try to get myself together as I see a doctor standing in front of me.

'Uhm, I'm sorry.. I just..'

'Don't worry about it. It's a natural reaction to what you've been through. My name is Dr. Mason Stock. I'm in charge of your son at the moment.'

'How.. how is he? Is he..'

'We managed to get his heart started again. He's stable right now, but he's not out of the woods yet. He has a pretty bad concussion. We're doing some tests on him right now to determine any sign of brain damage. His left arm is broken in two different places. His knee is pretty banged up as well. He already had an earlier injury on it, from what I can tell, right now the sprain he had has worsened. He's pretty lucky. If that knee had been hit any harder, his kneecap might have shattered. Further more he has some cuts and bruises on his torso, and also some very bad looking scars.' I choke back a sob as he says that. How long has this been going on? Bad looking scars?

'Will he be ok?'

'I'm sorry, but it's too soon to tell right now. We're trying to keep him stabilized right now. That's all we can do for now.'

'Doctor Stock?' A nurse comes rushing towards him.

'The results of the cat scan have come back, his brain is starting to swell..' The doctor looks worried, which only increases my concern.

'Doctor?'

'I'm sorry Mr. Taylor, I have to go. I assure you, we're doing all we can.' Yeah, I'm sure that's what you all say.

I sit down in defeat again, feeling more worried than ever.

After a few hours of sitting, walking around and staring out into space, I see the rest of my family coming towards me. Jill falls into my arms and I soothe her immediately as my sons give me a concerned look.

'How is he?'

'Well, last time I talked to the doctor he was stable, but then a nurse came over and told him his brain was starting to swell and then he left and I don't..' I stop and take a breath, trying to calm myself down. 'I haven't seen him since. But he said they're doing all they can.' They nod and we all sit and wait together.

Brad is still holding onto Gracie, who has now fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion after today's events. I can't blame her. I didn't even realize it, but we're all the family she has right now..

Here comes the doctor again.

'Mr. Taylor, you must e Mrs. Taylor and these are your other sons? And your daughter?'

'yes, this is my wife, Jill and these are our sons, Brad and Mark. But Gracie, she's my niece actually.'

'Right, ok. Well, my name is Dr. Mason Stock. I wanted to let you know that we managed to keep the swelling down on your son's brain. He's stable right now.'

'But?' I could tell from his tone it was coming. He smiles grimly.

'Unfortunately the only we we can manage to keep the swelling down is put your son in a sleep induced coma. It's not an actual coma. As soon as his brain is back to normal, we will wake him up.'

'Oh my god... will he be ok?'

'Well, we got there in time. He should be fine. But there is always a chance of brain damage after such a head trauma. We won't know that until we wake him up. But we're keeping a close eye on him. If anything happens, we'll be right there.'

'Ok, thank you doctor..' He nods with a smile. 'Can we see him?'

'Yes, of course. I'll send a nurse to come and get you. But only two people at a time are allowed inside. If you'll excuse me, I have some other patients to go and see.'

Two hours later we all sit in the waiting room again, just staring ahead, trying to shake the image of Randy lying in that white room with all the beeping machines and wires all over his body, bandages covering his head and torso and a breathing tube down his throat.

It'll be a long time before any of us will be able to sleep again without some hospital nightmare...

All we can do now is sit and wait. But there's one thing we do need to do.. I just look at the small form sleeping in Brad's arms and despite everything, I smile. It'll all be ok, I'll make sure of that...

**--**

A/N I'm am so sorry for waiting so long to update this story. But I just started college in September and I've still been having a bad case of writer's block. michalka reminded me to update this story, thank you again for that :)

I hope you're not too disappointed about this chapter, there's only one more chapter left, which is the epilogue. I'll be sad to end this story, but I can't let it go on forever :(

Oh, well. Please R&R to let me know what you think and I'll try to update again asap!

Sorry again, thanks for all and Love, Baxxie


	23. Epilogue

Epilogue

_One year later..._

It's been a difficult year for the Taylor family, having been through so much. Now, a year later, they are back at the cemetery, looking at Gracie, who stands before a grave.

It seems like sad event, but somehow the whole family is smiling. Gracie holds a drawing, which she made. She is talking animatedly, while looking at the headstone.

'See? I have a new family now! Isn't that great? Of course I'll miss mommy and daddy, but they were really bad... I made a drawing for you. Here's Auntie Jill and Uncle Tim and over here are Brad and Mark and...'

'Gracie, are you coming?' She turns around and her face breaks into a grin, as she sees Randy walking towards her.

'I was just showing Claire the drawing I made of my new family.' They both smile at 'new family'. He stand next to her and crouches down to her level.

'Well, I have to go Claire. I love you and I miss you! I'm glad you're happy up there! Bye...'

'Bye, Claire. Don't get into too much trouble up there, you hear? We'll all miss you. Love you!' Gracie giggles at Randy's comment and only laughs louder as he grabs her into his arms and starts tickling her.

They head towards the rest of the family, who looks on with happiness at the bond between the 'new' brother and sister. They only got the final word today, so they are off to celebrate.

It had taken a while, since Marty refused to give up custody at first and then didn't want his brother to raise her. That already provided a lot of stress, next to Randy still fighting for his life in the meantime, oblivious to what was happening.

When finally the word came that he woke up and there was no brain damage, all the bad luck turned to good luck and one by one all the bad problems were solved and their lives were finally filled with happiness.

Now the family is finally complete, except for of course one person, Claire. She will be greatly missed by the whole family, but as Gracie already knows, she is never that far away. She will look over the family for the rest of their lives, smiling at the boys finding love and going through marriage and having children of their own. The same goes for her sister, Gracie. But for her wedding day, an exception will be made and she will be there, she knows that.

The family will never forget all the horrible things that happened, but with the adoption of Gracie, Randy especially knows the nightmares will stop soon. No more worries, just happiness that will last for the rest of their lives...

**--**

A/N I am very sorry for this late update :( I know it's very short, but I just didn't know how to end the story anymore. I have exam week right now and I've been very busy with school, so writing hasn't been easy. But I'm trying and hopefully the chapters to my other stories will come out a lot better :)

I hope you guys like this anyway. Unfortunately, this is the final chapter. Thank you to everyone for helping and reading this story**. **I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

Well, that's it, Split Personalities has come to an end. I hope you're satisfied with the ending and please leave one final review to this story to let me know what you thought of it!

Thanks again and a lot of love, Baxxie


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